Matt Murphy begins our Advent series 'Faithful Promises' and invites us to step into the ancient longing of God’s people, remembering what was lost in Eden and how sin fractured every part of life—yet even in humanity’s rebellion, God moved toward us with the first promise of redemption. That torch of hope carried through generations until Jesus, the true serpent-crusher, came in the fullness of time, His heel bruised at the cross and His victory secured in the resurrection so that we could be forgiven, restored, and welcomed home. Now we live in the “already but not yet,” interpreting our stories through God’s faithfulness, naming our pain without losing sight of His victory, and waiting with hope for the day He makes all things new.

Daniel 11 shows us the real nature of the world—earthly powers rise and fall, suffering is inevitable, yet nothing can overturn what God has decreed, and Jesus has already overcome it. Daniel 12 anchors our endurance in the promise of resurrection: God will rescue His people not by escape from hardship but by raising them to everlasting life in the world Jesus will remake. And like Daniel, even when we don’t understand everything, we are called to trust God, stand firm in faith, and live in hope because Jesus rose—and we will rise with Him.

Daniel 8–10 pulls back the curtain to show that behind every kingdom, cultural moment, and experience of human evil is a real but unseen spiritual war. Daniel sees that dark powers influence earthly empires, yet God limits and overrules them. In chapter 9, Daniel demonstrates how God’s people engage this battle—not through control or political power, but through humble prayer and repentance, which become acts of spiritual warfare. Even when answers feel delayed, heaven is already fighting on behalf of God’s people. Ultimately, Daniel’s visions point forward to the Anointed One whose death and resurrection delivered the decisive blow against the powers of darkness. At the cross, Christ disarmed spiritual rulers and guaranteed their destruction. So as we live in the “already/not yet,” we fight with spiritual weapons, stay alert and humble, and hold fast to the hope that Jesus’ victory is final and His kingdom will reign forever.

Pastor John Murphy’s sermon on Daniel 7 marks a transition from historical narrative to apocalyptic vision, shifting the focus from the earthly courts of Babylon and Persia to the heavenly courtroom of God. He explains that apocalyptic literature unveils truth through vivid imagery meant to inspire faith, not to decode future timelines. Daniel’s vision of four beasts represents recurring beastly kingdoms—empires and ideologies that promise good but dehumanize and ultimately fall. Yet amid chaos, the Ancient of Days sits sovereign, judging every power. The “Son of Man,” identified as Jesus, receives eternal dominion and establishes a kingdom of peace and restoration that will never end. Unlike beastly kingdoms that demand worth, Christ grants worth and shares His reign with His people. The sermon calls believers to place their allegiance in Christ’s unshakable kingdom, finding hope and endurance in His victory and reign forever.

Acts 9 reveals that faithful presence begins with being attuned to Jesus, who meets us in ordinary moments and invites us into His redemptive work. Like Ananias, we’re called to listen for Jesus’ voice and follow Him with courage, even when it leads into uncomfortable spaces. As we abide in Him through prayer, openness, and awareness, we begin to see that every ordinary place becomes holy when Jesus is present there.

Matt Murphy’s sermon on Soli Deo Gloria teaches that all things—creation, salvation, and life—exist from Him, through Him, and to Him for God’s glory alone. He urges believers to see God’s infinite worth and beauty revealed in Jesus, where divine majesty becomes mercy at the cross. Our response is to acknowledge His worth, exalt Him above ourselves, and rejoice that salvation begins and ends in God’s work alone.

In his sermon “Sola Fide – Faith Alone,” Aidan Sims teaches that righteousness before God is not achieved by works but is declared by God through faith in Jesus Christ. Drawing from Romans 3:22–28, he emphasizes that all people have sinned and are justified freely by God’s grace through Christ’s redemptive work. Faith, a gift from God, unites believers to Christ and His finished work, making them righteous in God’s courtroom—an imputed, not earned, righteousness. Sims contrasts this biblical view with the Roman Catholic idea of infused righteousness and situates sola fide within the broader Reformation recovery of the gospel. God’s declaration is final and transformative: believers live in obedience not to earn righteousness but to grow into the reality of what God has already declared true of them—saved by grace through faith alone.

In Pt. 4 of the Faithful Foundations series: The Solas of the Reformation, Pastor John Murphy taught that salvation is not something we can earn or deserve—it is entirely a gift of God’s grace through the finished work of Christ. From Ephesians 2:1–10, he reminded us that apart from Christ we are spiritually dead, enslaved to sin, and unable to save ourselves—dead people can’t fix themselves. But God, rich in mercy and great in love, made us alive with Christ; we are saved by grace, not by our works. Pastor John warned that both religious performance (“I can earn God’s favor”) and self-sufficiency (“I don’t need grace”) reject the gospel’s core truth. Salvation is a free gift to be received, not achieved. Grace produces humility, worship, and obedience—not to earn love, but in response to the love already given. As Pastor John concluded, “Grace isn’t opposed to effort, it’s opposed to earning.” We are God’s workmanship, saved by grace alone to display His immeasurable kindness and live lives of grateful worship.

In Solus Christus – Christ Alone, Aidan Sims reminds us that our salvation rests entirely on the finished work of Jesus, not on anything we can add. Like a rider who must keep their eyes fixed on where they want to go, the Church must keep its gaze on Christ alone, lest we drift toward “Jesus and…”—Jesus and good behavior, and religious observance, and social causes. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture reveals that God’s plan of redemption is fulfilled in Jesus—the promised Seed, the true Tabernacle, the eternal King. Fully God and fully man, Christ lived in perfect obedience, bore our sin, and rose to reconcile us to the Father. Through the Spirit, we are united to him so that his story becomes ours—his death our death, his resurrection our life. Salvation is wholly God’s work, accomplished by the Son and applied by the Spirit. When we look at ourselves, we see only our unworthiness; but when we look at Christ, we see the unshakable assurance that we cannot be lost.

In this message from the Faithful Foundations series, Pastor John Murphy unpacks the first cry of the Reformation: Sola Scriptura—Scripture Alone. He shows why God’s Word is sufficient, inspired, and authoritative, contrasting it with the dangers of adding to it or placing ourselves above it. From Luther’s stand at the Diet of Worms to Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 3, the call is clear: Scripture alone must anchor what we believe and how we live. More than information, it leads us to transformation as it points us to Christ.