TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | John 1:6-13  

The Advent season is a remarkable promise: Jesus was born of Mary so that all who receive him can be born of God—can become part of God’s family. This sermon can explore the reality of what the new birth is, as well as how those who experience the new birth invite others into it, too.

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | John 1:1-5 

Christ’s incarnation reminds us that what Jesus did for us what he now calls us — in his power — to do for others: move towards brokenness with good news of grace and healing. Jesus, the Word, didn’t remain distant and aloof, but came into our darkness and brought light, at great cost to himself. 

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Acts 16:11-15; Romans 12:9-13  

One of the signs that your heart has been opened to the gospel is that you open your life to others: your home, your possessions, your time, and so on. Being a hospitable church—truly open and welcoming to others—is a sign of a church alive, filled with the Spirit, and a powerful witness in a lonely city. 

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE | Acts 4:32-37 

God’s grace at work in the earliest church brought about a remarkable kind of generosity, in which the members of the church cared for each other in practical ways. When members of the church care for each with sacrificial love and generosity, it’s a sign to the world that they are Christ’s disciples. 

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Acts 4:23-31 

One sign of life in a church is that they pray together. This sermon will explore what we can learn from the first Christians about how and why we must pray together as a church.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Acts 4:1-22  

The revival that broke forth in the early church disrupted and angered the religious establishment. When the church was persecuted, they responded with humble, Christ-focused courage. This sermon will explore how a church community can embody humble courage, even amid opposition and persecution.  

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | Acts 1:1-11 

The book of Acts records the history of the first Christian church. Acts presents the people of God as a church alive for the glory of God and the good of their cities. The church in Acts wasn’t perfect, but as the living Jesus worked in and through them, the power of the gospel brought transformation in individuals, in cities, and eventually the whole world. In Acts 1 we see why the church was alive: because they believed to their core that Jesus himself was alive.

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | John 15:9-17  

God gives his people commands because he longs for their joy. Every “law” from God is a manifestation of his love for his people and the world he made. Growing in maturity as a follower of Jesus means obedience: loving what he loves, living as he commands. 

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | John 15:1-8  

The heart of the Christian life is abiding in Jesus, living in union with him. This sermon explores what it means to abide in Jesus as well as what are some of the challenges to abiding in him.

“A skilled gardener never cuts off anything, never prunes off anything, that wouldn’t have been a loss to keep and a gain to lose” (Tim Keller). “A pruned vine is not very pretty. What previously looked vibrant and beautiful is cut down to the stubs… vinedressers talk about pruning as wounding… For spiritual vitality and fruitfulness, we often need a stripping away of what feels beautiful in our lives, what seems needed. This is difficult” (John Starke).

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE | John 1:35-42

When Jesus met his first disciples, he asked them: “What do you want?” By asking this simple yet revealing question, Jesus was surfacing the desires and longings of these would-be disciples. As we look at John 1:35-42, we discover where discipleship to Jesus starts, and what it really means to be his disciple