Why will your faith last to the end?   What is needed to sustain the faith of a Christian? How can you be sure that you will not make a total shipwreck of your faith?  In sermon titled "Keep", we look at Jude 24-25.  We are presented with amazing promises, and we are presented with the glorious foundation that these promises rest on.  We examine what God has done and is doing to keep us, and we look at what we are called to do in order to keep ourselves.

We live in a time of great confusion and emotional turmoil.  This is certainly true in our country, and it is also true in our churches.  We certainly should be concerned with the state of our country, but we should be even more concerned about the state of the church.  Errors concerning the gospel have crept in, and getting this right is of supreme importance.  Jude is incredibly relevant in this pursuit, as we look at the first 4 verses in a sermon called "Contending for the Faith."

We often come to passages in scripture that make us uncomfortable.  More often than not these are passages that point out the idols in our heart. We like to hold these passages at arms length and move past them.  In a sermon titled "Trust Worthy Handling of Worldly Wealth", we look at Luke 16: 1-13 - The Parable of the Dishonest/Shrewd Manager and how Jesus uses the parable to deal with one of the greatest idols of our hearts, the wealth of this world, and how to use it properly. 

In Proverbs, there are constant warnings on the dangers of pride and teachings about how "Pride goes before destruction."  Although we may condemn more visible sins, pride can be the most deadly.  In this sermon we look at the story of Naaman and how pride could have prevented him from receiving something important from God.
This story teaches us about pride, but it also shines a light on God's grace to meet us where we are and extend mercy so that we can receive what we do not deserve.  An amazing story with a surprise ending that involves a request to export a lot of dirt out of Israel.  Let's explore this story and learn more in a sermon on 2 Kings 5:1-19 called "Pride and Dirt".

We take one last look at 1 Thessalonians as we will conclude our "Faith Out Loud" sermon series.   We are looking at 1 Thessalonians 5:25-28, as well as several important themes through this New Testament book.  In a sermon called "Living Faith Out Loud," we will look at how Paul wrote to equip the Thessalonians to live out their faith in difficult times and how we can learn to do the same today.

We continue our set of sermons looking at the language of prayer that we find in the Book of Psalms.  The Psalms give us practical ways of praying through the different situations we find ourselves in life.

In Psalm 88, we find a unique Psalm in which there is only one other.  A Psalm that begins with despair but does not conclude with hope but instead...more despair.  Why would God include a Psalm that offers no hope in all of its 18 verses?  What can we learn from this Psalm about ourselves and about God?  Let's explore this Psalm and how we can learn how important it is that in our prayer life, we hold nothing back with God.

We are starting a set of sermons that look at the language of prayer that we find in the Book of Psalms.  The Psalms give us practical ways of praying through the different situations we find ourselves in life.  

In Psalm 32, we read a Psalm by David where he prays through a confession.  In our culture confession is almost completely absent, but this includes church culture where on Sundays we put on our best face and want others to view us in specific ways.  David shows why confession is so important and how it can actually lead to a "Rejoicing in the Lord."  Let's explore this Psalm and how we can adopt confession as part of our prayer life.

Dependable.  That is a word that seems to have fallen out of use.  Whether it's because the stuff we buy is purposely designed to only last a short time or because people in our lives (including ourselves) often let us down.  In 1 Thessalonians 5:24 we read, "The One who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."  We are told that God is faithful...completely dependable.  In this sermon we look at the amazing thing that we are told that our faithful God will do and we see that understanding this important biblical truth transforms our understanding of what it means to be a Christian.  This sermon is called "God Never Fails" and looks at 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.

I hate driving at night in the rain.  It's hard to see through the water on the windshield.  The wipers are distracting as they flick back and forth.  Headlights seem less helpful than normal as they bounce off the glossy wet surface making the road lines almost invisible.  As I drive in the rainy darkness, my brain has to work overtime trying to decipher what my eyes are seeing and my ears are hearing.  It is tough to sort through all the chaos. 

This sermon is called "Seeing Clearly Through Chaos" and looks at 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22.  In this passage, Paul gives us some very important information to help us sort through the chaos that comes at us everyday.  He ends the passage by saying we must hold on to the good and reject every kind of evil...but how do we know which is which?  We look at the importance of having a God-given, inspired standard for seeing clearly through the chaos of the world we live in.

As I write this, I am looking out at a beautiful lake in the Adirondack mountains with mountains reflecting on the surface of the lake which shimmers in the morning sun.  It is the final morning of our annual family vacation here and this picture is what comes to my mind when I think of the word "peace."  But we will be leaving in a few hours and heading home.  Peace looks very different then.  This sermon looks at 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 and is called "The Peaceful Church."  In this sermon we will look at God's plan for a church that demonstrates the peace of the gospel in this sinful world.