A sermon by Pastor Tim Vusik from Selected Scriptures.

Throughout church history, there have always been periods when preaching was resisted and attacked, and today is no different. In a world full of complex issues, what good does it do to gather once a week to listen to somebody talk about God from the Bible?

Big Idea: Preaching is a meeting with God to hear Him speak, leading to conversion and change.

1. We Preach Because Our God Has Spoken

A sermon by Pastor Tim Vusik from Selected Scriptures.

All people sing. We are singing creatures. We were created to sing by God, who sings Himself! However, why do Christians sing?

Big Idea: Singing is an act of worship that responds to the Gospel and an act of faith that receives the Gospel.

1. We Sing to Respond to the Gospel

A sermon by Pastor Mike Trofimenko from Selected Scriptures.

The Scriptures offer extensive guidance on managing our possessions, including money. Our attitude toward handling these possessions reflects our understanding of grace and our participation in God's plan.

Big Idea: Giving is a form of true worship of God that imitates his heart and extends his mission.

1. We give because we are the recipients of God’s gifts

A sermon by Pastor Tim Vusik from Selected Scriptures.

The idea of membership is familiar to all of us. We are members of many things: gyms, teams, stores, and unions. Church membership, however, is more than just a club membership; it’s a declaration. It signifies that you belong to a body of believers who are committed to helping each other and serving together to accomplish Christ’s purposes on earth.

Big Idea: Being a member of a local church shows that I belong to Christ and His body.

1. Membership is Inherent in the Purchase Made by Christ

A sermon by Pastor Tim Vusik from Matthew 28:16-20.

The cross is followed by the crown. The resurrected Lord has completed His mission to atone for the sins of His people. But the mission goes on. He instructs His disciples to pick up the baton and continue the work: to tell and teach all people about Jesus, the great Immanuel.

‍Big Idea: Since Jesus is crowned as the resurrected Lord, He is worthy of worship from all peoples, so we must tell them about Him!

1. All Authority: Jesus is Crowned as the Universal Lord (16-18)

A sermon by Pastor Tim Vusik from 1 Corinthians 1:30-31.

Today, we can find many plans in the world that offer to improve our health or increase our wealth. There are also plans that propose ways to work your way to God—every religion has them—but they are all doomed to fail because no human plan addresses your sin. Only God, in His wisdom, solves our sin problem by Himself so that all praise goes to Him.

Big Idea: Our salvation is entirely from the Lord so that our boasting may be entirely in the Lord.

1. God Alone Saves Us (30a)

A sermon by Pastor Mike Trofimenko from 1 John 4:7-12.

While believers are called to love even their enemies, loving fellow Christians is fundamental to the Christian faith. Because of God's work, Christians are able to love, are called to love, and are obligated to love one another.

Big Idea: You must love your fellow Christians because of your new relationship with God.

1. Because love is the evidence of our new birth (7-8)

A sermon by Pastor Tim Vusik from Matthew 28:1-15.

The Bible never records any descriptions of how Jesus rose from the dead, but only the fact that He rose from the dead so that we would not be wrapped up and consumed with all the minutiae of the resurrection, but with the matter and the meaning of the resurrection.

Big Idea: The Resurrection of Jesus is not a hoax but a historical matter with hope-filled meaning to those who believe.

1. Come and See the Matter of the Resurrection (1-6)

A sermon by Pastor Tim Vusik from Matthew 27:57-66.

At first glance, the last ten verses of chapter 27 might appear as “filler verses”—simply filling in some historical details and bridging two important events in Christianity: the cross and the resurrection. However, Matthew tells us something very significant about Jesus and how His burial impacts our salvation.

Big Idea: Jesus was buried to assure us of our complete salvation through His death and His resurrection.

1. Jesus’ Certain Burial Assures Us of His Humiliating Death (57-61)

A sermon by Pastor Tim Vusik from Matthew 27:45-56.

Our text reveals the most unnatural concept, truly an oxymoron that should cause us to reflect deeply on its meaning: Jesus died. Those two words should not be used so closely together because there is nothing about Jesus’s death that is fair, right, just, or sensible. Yet this is what makes His death central to the Good News of the Bible.

Big Idea: Jesus’ undeserving death creates for us undeserving grace.

1. Jesus was Judged by God, so You Would Never Be (45-49)