Real Peace. Real People.

This is a Jesus who blows up any caricatures we might have of him. He's a whip wielding, chaos creating Jesus. Nobody quite understood why he was that in that moment. We rarely do in our moments either. This is a sermon that explains why that is. Why we struggle to understand Jesus' passion for true worship; how much we need it; and how Jesus has provided it. Tune in below for a true and life-giving moment of worship.

Counterintuitively there is a torture that heals. Counterintuitively there is a death that brings life. Counterintuitively there is a losing of yourself that can leading to a true finding of yourself. This is a sermon about that very real paradox - the paradox that Jesus, the master teacher, lays out for us in this monster of a Scripture. Listen in for a truly transformation word from Jesus.

There is a great irony when it comes to Mark's account of Jesus' temptation. The same time he talks about temptation, he creates one. You can see people falling under the weight of that temptation everywhere if you look carefully for it. What temptation is that? The temptation to believe that because Mark's message is short it's also small - to rush right past what he says. This sermon fights back against that temptation. It seeks to reveal the heart and core of Mark's short, but major message on Jesus' temptation.

A Peace Academy on the Season of Lent

Life can feel like such a confusing, unsettled place especially when we don't know what's coming next or can't control what's happening. This sermon explores what is at the root of all our insecurities as we do life and all the things that stop us from truly having serenity now as we do it. It seeks to "grow down" the listener to a place of true emotional maturity. What does that look like? Listen in.

Jesus' signature sign is this one: the wedding at Cana. That's, at the very least, what this sermon argues. What does this sign point to though? What is it that the disciples were believing about Jesus that this sign showed them? This is a sermon that explores that idea and asks its hearers to trust that Jesus through his hour wants to take his disciples all the way to the end of their discipleship journey to the place of God's final blessing.

It's difficult to be a person of faith - to be what the Scripture calls a true Israelite. It's especially difficult to be that person when you have time. Because when you have time to notice what's happening inside you see your questions all the more clearly; and you see your pains all the more visibly; and you see your sin all the more often. That is what makes it difficult to hold to the promises of God - when we feel so alone and unnoticed and uncared for by God. Here God in the person of Jesus ministers to that difficulty with a word that brought its first hearer so much joy that it lit him up like a firecracker. Listen in.

The human experience shows that we are seeking beings. We are always seeking and never quite finding. We are always going somewhere, but never quite arriving. This is a sermon about how we humans can finally arrive to a place where we can stop feeling a need to go anywhere - a sermon meant to enable you to end your spiritual quest. Step one? Halt and try to answer Jesus' question of discipleship. Listen in.

Universally humans have a sense of grit, grime, and muck about their lives. And, yes, it's universal. Humans all in some way want to rid themselves of the past, find a clean slate, and write a new chapter to the book of their lives. We see that especially this time of year as we try to get back to the gym or church or resolve something fresh that we hope not to muck up this year. Mark skips Christmas to minister to that sense. Dive into this incredible Scripture from Mark for the ultimate clean slate. Listen in below.

There is so much about this Scripture that makes the hearts of Christians warm. So much. But there is one part of this Scripture that is neglected that is truly the key to the whole prophecy: the burning boots. Listen in to this Christmas sermon about what God wants you to put in your Christmas hearth.