Grace Chapel

Are you tired… of being tired?

From “sleepcations” to burnout statistics, our culture is waving the white flag. Nearly 70% of workers report feeling burned out. We are more connected, more productive, and more informed than ever before — and yet we are exhausted.

In this message, Pastor Dom Bronico explores what Jesus meant when He said:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

Sabbath is not outdated religion.

It is not laziness.

It is not legalistic rule-following.

It is a life-giving practice designed to restore our whole being.

In Mark 2, Jesus confronts a rigid understanding of the Sabbath and reframes it entirely. The Pharisees focused on what Sabbath restricted. Jesus reveals what Sabbath gives. True Sabbath rest refreshes our bodies, reminds us of our identity as human beings made in God’s image, and centers us on the Lord of the Sabbath Himself.

In a world of:

• constant productivity

• endless consumption

• non-stop communication

• pressure to achieve more

Sabbath becomes an act of resistance and surrender.

What if Lent isn’t primarily about giving something up… but about accepting an invitation?

In The Invitation, Pastor Tom VanAntwerp takes us to Exodus 33 and the powerful image of the Tent of Meeting—a place Moses set up outside the camp where he met with God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”

It’s a stunning picture of intimacy.

In a noisy, hurried, performance-driven world, God extends a simple but profound invitation:

Come away. Quiet the noise. Slow down. Meet with Me.

Lent often feels heavy—ashes, repentance, reflection. But beneath it is something deeply hopeful. God delights in you. He knows you by name. And He longs to fill the canvas of these forty days with His presence, rest, and renewal.

In this message, Pastor Tom explores three tensions we all feel:

• A quiet spirituality in a noisy world

• A slow spirituality in a hurried world

• A relational spirituality in a transactional culture

Spiritual disciplines like Sabbath, fasting, and prayer are not about proving ourselves to God. They are about posturing ourselves to receive what He is already pouring out.

And in the middle of Moses’ anxiety and unanswered questions, God makes this promise:

“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14)

That promise still stands.

This message is an invitation—into nearness, into delight, into relationship. The God of the universe is not asking for better performance. He is inviting you into friendship.

At the halfway point of the year, it’s easy to feel like we’re just trying to make it to the finish line. But this message is an invitation to do more than survive—to recenter.

In Colossians 1:15–23, we’re reminded of who Jesus really is: the One who created all things, the One who holds all things together, and the One who leads His church. If Jesus is truly the center, everything else—our stress, our opinions, our fears, our responsibilities—finds a better place.

Pastor Tim speaks honestly about the emotional weight of our cultural moment, and how easy it is for Christians to get pulled into anxiety, outrage, and division. But the church is called to something different: unity in Christ, a deeper story, and a kingdom mission that doesn’t rise and fall with the news cycle.

This message also prepares us for Lent and the practices that form us: Sabbath, fasting, and prayer. Not as a way to earn God’s love—but as a way to become more aware of it, and more grounded in it.

If you feel off-center right now, this message is for you.

May Jesus become central again—steady, present, and supreme.

What does genuine faith look like when we leave church and step into the realities of everyday life? How does our Sunday worship shape the way we show up at work, at school, in our homes, and in our communities?

In this message, Pastor Ruthie Seiders invites us to consider a powerful and challenging truth from the book of James: faith that does not move us to action is incomplete. A living, authentic faith is not something we simply believe—it is something we practice.

Drawing from James 2, Pastor Ruthie explores what it means to live out a working faith—a faith that connects prayer, worship, and belief with tangible expressions of love, mercy, justice, and compassion in the places God has called us to serve each day. Using Scripture, real-life examples, and stories from Grace Chapel’s Faith and Work gathering, this message highlights how God is already at work through people across all ages, vocations, and life stages.

This sermon wrestles honestly with questions like:

Can faith be real if it doesn’t shape how we treat others?

How do faith and works relate without turning obedience into performance?

What does it look like to love our neighbors in the ordinary moments of work and responsibility?

James reminds us that even belief alone is not enough—even the demons believe. What marks genuine faith is love in action. From the faith of Abraham to the courage of Rahab, Scripture shows us that faith comes alive when it is expressed through deeds shaped by trust in God and love for others.

Pastor Ruthie challenges us to imagine what might change if we truly believed that every person we encounter is a child of God, an image bearer, and that our work as followers of Jesus is to treat them that way. When we close the gap between Sunday and Monday, faith becomes visible—not just in words, but in lives shaped by grace.

This message is an invitation to reflect deeply on how your faith shows up in the small, everyday choices you make—and to live out a faith that works for the good of others and the glory of God.

In a world that celebrates constant productivity and relentless busyness, many of us find ourselves exhausted, distracted, and spiritually depleted. We don’t stop working because we hate the destination—we stop because we’ve run out of fuel.

In this message, Pastor Tom VanAntwerp invites us to rediscover one of God’s most overlooked and life-giving gifts: the Sabbath.

From the opening pages of Scripture, we see that rest is not an afterthought—it is woven into creation itself. God works, and then God rests. Not because He is tired, but because rest completes good work. And as people made in God’s image, we are invited to live into that same rhythm.

This sermon explores how Sabbath is far more than taking a day off or catching up on sleep. True Sabbath is an intentional entering into the rest of God—a rest that restores our souls, realigns our priorities, and reshapes our understanding of who we are.

In this message, you’ll reflect on:

Why rest is essential to faithful and sustainable work

The biblical rhythm of work and rest (the 6–1 pattern)

Why stopping work doesn’t always mean we are truly rested

How Sabbath helps us rediscover delight, trust “enough,” and remember God’s story over the world’s stories

How Jesus Himself modeled rhythms of prayerful rest in the midst of demanding ministry

Sabbath reminds us that we are not defined by productivity, success, or output. We are image-bearers before we are workers. Loved before we are useful. Rested before we are sent.

If you feel burned out…

If life feels hurried and noisy…

If your work has started shaping your identity more than God’s grace…

This message is an invitation to slow down, trust God more deeply, and live your life—and your work—out of a place of rest.

Pain, frustration, and discouragement are unavoidable realities of life and work. From tedious tasks and unmet expectations to seasons of deep grief, loss, and hardship—pain has a way of shaping how we see ourselves, our work, and even God.

In this message, Josiah Kish invites us to wrestle honestly with pain through the lens of Scripture. Drawing from Lamentations 3, written by the prophet Jeremiah in the aftermath of profound loss, we are reminded that pain is not a sign of God’s absence—but often the very place where God meets us most deeply.

Jeremiah does not minimize suffering. He names it fully—describing it as wormwood and poison. Yet, remarkably, in the midst of devastation, he declares hope. Why? Because hope is not rooted in circumstances, but in the unchanging character of God—His steadfast love, His mercies that are new every morning, and His enduring faithfulness.

This message explores three powerful truths:

Pain is the grim reality of a broken world

Hope in pain flows from trusting God’s character

Pain carries an invitation—to wait on God, to be formed, and to draw closer to Him

Ultimately, this sermon points us to the Gospel, where we see pain fully embodied in Christ Himself. Jesus enters our suffering, bears it on the cross, and transforms it into a place of redemption and hope. The Gospel empowers us not to escape pain, but to meet God within it.

Whether your pain comes from work stress, disappointment, unemployment, caregiving, study, or seasons of deep personal loss, this message offers an invitation: to see pain not as the end of hope, but as the doorway through which God does His deepest work in us.

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the workplace faster than any innovation in recent history. Jobs are changing. Technology is accelerating. Anxiety and excitement live side by side.

So how should followers of Jesus respond?

In this message, Pastor Tom VanAntwerp explores the future of work through the lens of Scripture, connecting today’s AI revolution with the ancient story of the Tower of Babel. Rather than rejecting technology or placing our trust in it, this sermon invites us to rediscover God’s calling for our work—and our humanity.

In this message you’ll hear:

Why new innovations often tempt us to replace trust in God

What the Tower of Babel teaches us about technology and pride

How AI can be a tool without becoming an idol

Why work remains deeply human, spiritual, and formative

How God’s mercy continues to call us forward—even after failure

As technology evolves, one thing remains true: you are not replaceable, and God has a future for you and your work.

Work isn’t just something we do — it’s something that forms us.

In this message, Pastor Tom VanAntwerp explores how our daily work shapes who we are becoming and how God uses ordinary labor to bring His kingdom into the world. Drawing from Romans 12, Genesis 1, and Jesus’ prayer that God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven,” this sermon invites us to see work not as a divide between sacred and secular, but as a primary place of spiritual formation.

In this message you’ll hear:

How work can either form or malform us

Why Scripture refuses to separate work from worship

How God intends our workplaces to be places where heaven meets earth

What it looks like to live an integrated Sunday-to-Monday faith

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Is work just a grind… or could it be worship?

In this message we explore a powerful biblical idea rooted in the Hebrew word avodah — a word that can mean work, labor, worship, and service. From the opening chapter of Scripture, we see God creating with intention and calling His work “good.” And then He creates humanity in His image — not as an afterthought, but as co-workers invited to steward creation and reflect His character in the world.

We’ll also confront the reality of thorns and thistles — how the Fall impacts our work — while recovering God’s design: that your work matters, carries dignity, and can be a meaningful part of your calling.

In this sermon you’ll hear about:

Why “God the Worker” changes how we view our Monday

The meaning of avodah (work + worship + service)

Why there’s no “sacred vs. secular” divide in God’s eyes

How work gets broken — and how God can redeem it

Practical next steps to close the Sunday-to-Monday gap

What do you do when life feels late?

Late for the milestone.

Late for the relationship.

Late for the breakthrough you thought would already be here.

In this message, we look at the Magi — travelers who arrived years after Christmas night, crossed borders as religious outsiders, faced delays, setbacks, and uncertainty… and yet still found joy, worship, and hope when they encountered Jesus.

From Matthew 2 we discover:

Why the Magi’s journey speaks to anyone stuck in a long season of waiting

How hope survives setbacks, silence, and apparent delays

Why “late” is never the same as “too late” in God’s economy

How joy can appear before the destination, not just at the end

Whether you feel behind, overlooked, delayed, or discouraged — this story reminds us that God’s timing is never late, and an encounter with Jesus is never diminished by when it happens.

With God, there is no such thing as too late.