FBCDC Sermons (Video)

In Reckoning and Renewing, Pastor Julie preaches "Justice, Kindness, and the Unfinished Walk" from Mark 12:28-34 and Micah 6:6-8. Jesus names the greatest commandment, love God and love your neighbor, and Micah describes what that love looks like on foot: justice, kindness, and a humble walk with God. Telling the truth about the past is necessary, but it is not the same as repair. What does faithfulness look like after the reckoning?

Readings: Micah 6:6-8; Romans 12:9-21; Mark 12:28-34.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/10/23/sunday-oct-25-2026-reckoning-and-renewing-justice-kindness-and-the-unfinished-walk

Sunday, October 25, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

Part of the Reckoning and Renewing journey, FBC members Rob Marus and Janice Osborn offer the sermon. Their theme is "What I Inherited," a return to the question the series began with. What did your family hand you, spoken or unspoken, about race, difference, or who belongs? They share what they've set down, what they've kept on purpose, and what they hope to pass along.

00:00:00 Janice Osborn

00:08:15 This Little Light of Mine

00:09:16 Rob Marus

Readings: Psalm 121; 2 Corinthians 5:16-20; Matthew 5:1-16.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/10/14/sunday-oct-18-2026-reckoning-and-renewing-voices-along-the-way

Sunday, October 18, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

First Baptist continues our five-week series, Reckoning and Renewing, a chance to look honestly at our own story and our nation's, the dark pieces along with the redeeming ones. Pastor Julie preaches "Which Jesus?" from Matthew 16:13-20, where Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"

For two thousand years, Christians have answered that question in ways that have shaped the world—sometimes toward peace and justice, sometimes toward conquest and slavery—with Scripture quoted in defense. What do we do with the truth that white supremacy in this nation was sustained, in large part, by the misuse of the Bible, in the name of the Savior to whom we belong?

Readings: Genesis 9:20-27; Romans 12:1-3; Matthew 16:13-20.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/10/8/sunday-oct-11-2026-reckoning-and-renewing-which-jesus

Sunday, October 11, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

First Baptist's five-week series, Reckoning and Renewing, is a chance to look honestly at our own story and our nation's, the dark pieces along with the redeeming ones. When we can name what's true about the past without flinching, that past loses its power to hold us in regret or shame. The series moves us a step further into freedom: naming what we've inherited, wrestling with how scripture itself has been used and misused, listening to our own members' stories, and finally asking what faithfulness looks like as we walk forward together.

Rev. Kevin Peterman preaches "Midnight in America," from Acts 16:16-40, the story of Paul and Silas in jail.

Readings: Isaiah 58:6-9a; Acts 16:16-40; Matthew 23:1-7, 23-28.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/10/4/sunday-oct-4-2026-midnight-in-america-rev-kevin-peterman

Sunday, October 4, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

Luke 4:16-21 opens a five-week series at First Baptist called Reckoning and Renewing, a chance to look honestly at our own story and our nation's, the dark pieces along with the redeeming ones. When we can name what's true about the past without flinching, that past loses its power to hold us in regret or shame. The series moves us a step further into freedom: naming what we've inherited, wrestling with how scripture itself has been used and misused, listening to our own members' stories, and finally asking what faithfulness looks like as we walk forward together.

Pastor Julie begins the series with "The Inheritance We Didn't Choose."

Readings: Isaiah 61:1-3; Philippians 2:1-11; Luke 4:16-21.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/9/25/sunday-sep-27-2026-reckoning-and-renewing-the-inheritance-we-didnt-choose

Sunday, September 27, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

Pastor Eric wraps up the sermon series, Still Here: When Holding On Is Holy Enough, a four-week journey through the Hebrew Bible with people who had reached the end of themselves. The sermon immerses us in the story of Jonah.

In this passage, we sit with a prophet who is furious — not because God was harsh, but because God was merciful to the "wrong people." It's a story about what happens when grace reaches past the line we would have drawn, and whether we can bear it. The sermon holds that question, and carries it toward the work of reckoning and renewing.

Readings: Jonah 3:10-4:11; Psalm 145:1-8; Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/9/18/sunday-sep-20-2026-still-here-when-mercy-offends

Sunday, September 20, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

Pastor Eric continues the sermon series, Still Here: When Holding On Is Holy Enough, a four-week journey through the Hebrew Bible with people who had reached the end of themselves. The sermon revisits the story of Joseph.

In Genesis 50, Joseph's brothers are terrified now that their father has died, and expect the revenge they have earned. Instead, Joseph weeps and says to them, "You intended to do harm to me, but God intended it for good."

For anyone carrying an old wound that has not fully closed, this is not the false comfort of "everything happens for a reason." It is something more sturdy: permission to name the harm, grieve its reality, and set down the exhausting work of keeping score.

Readings: Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/9/10/sunday-sep-13-2026-still-here-when-the-wound-is-old

Sunday, September 13, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

In this passage, Pastor Eric continues the sermon series, Still Here: When Holding On is Holy Enough, a four-week journey through the Hebrew Bible with people who had reached the end of themselves. Earlier in the series the journey sits with Jeremiah's burn out and honest complaint. Here the sermon meets Ezekiel, handed a responsibility almost too heavy to carry.

God appoints Ezekiel a sentinel, a watchman responsible for warning others of danger. Anyone who has felt responsible for another person's wellbeing knows the weight of it: the parent, the caregiver, the friend who sees trouble coming, and any of us tired of watching the world get used to things we never agreed to. But, God interrupts Ezekiel's assignment with something that sounds almost like heartbreak: "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked… turn back, turn back." The responsibility God gave Ezekiel was never a cold demand. It flowed from a God who does not want to lose anyone, and who carries the weight with us.

Readings: Ezekiel 33:7-11; Psalm 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/9/3/sunday-sep-6-2026-still-here-when-its-too-much

Sunday, September 6, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

"Still Here: When Holding On is Holy Enough" is a sermon series from Pastor Eric, a four-week journey through the Hebrew Bible with people who had reached the end of themselves. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joseph, and Jonah. These are not tidy people, and Scripture does not look away from them. In fact, it hands them the microphone. The series does not promise that everything is fine. It promises something better and harder—that holding on, barely and by a thread, turns out to be holy enough, because we are not the ones finally doing the holding.

In this first message of the series, Pastor Eric preaches on Jeremiah, who found himself where many people actually live: doing the faithful thing and quietly wondering if it is worth it. Jeremiah makes one of the most raw complaints in all of Scripture, and God does not strike him down for it. Honesty with God, it turns out, is not the opposite of faith. It may be its deepest form.

Readings: Jeremiah 15:15-21; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/8/26/sunday-aug-30-2026-still-here-when-youre-burned-out

Sunday, August 30, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.

Pastor Julie turns to Matthew 16:13-20, where Jesus puts the question to Peter: "Who do you say that I am?" Peter answers correctly—only to discover that saying the words is just the beginning. A confession like this one isn't something you recite…it's something you live.

With "Say It with Your Life," Pastor Julie brings the summer series Tell Us a Story to a close.

Readings: Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20.

Watch the full worship service: https://www.firstbaptistdc.org/listen-to-sermons/2026/8/20/sunday-aug-23-2026-say-it-with-your-life

Sunday, August 23, 2026 · The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C.