SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 1:1-3

The Book of Hebrews is where we will be spending our time this winter and spring. What a glorious gift it is to feast upon such a treasure trove of truth! We kick-start this sermon series by focusing on Hebrews 1:1-3. It’s quite the challenge to find more theologically rich verses in all of God’s Word. In fact, Pastor Mark is pretty excited to dive into the details of this passage.

The poetic details within these three verses reveal a plethora of distinctions between what was in the Old Testament and who is in the New Testament. It also reveals a glorious tension between Christ’s cosmic transcendence and His personal eminence.

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 131

This Sunday, Jeff presented us with a moving and timely sermon on Psalm 131, a passage that offers a lifetime’s worth of lessons in just three verses. As we begin a new year, we often set our thoughts on hopes, dreams, and goals for the coming months. We might also reflect on the causes of past disappointments and the fears we face in the present. In this Psalm, King David foreshadows the Lord Jesus Christ by humbly acknowledging the limitations of human understanding and finding our ultimate contentment and delight in God alone. May this brief passage reorient our new year’s aspirations and anxieties toward stronger, more joyful trust in our loving God.

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 1

How does a new year start? With the first psalm in the Bible, Psalm 1! It has two powerful images: a tree planted by streams of water and chaff blown away by the wind. We'll see how sin can pull us away from God’s best for us. And we’ll also discover the secret of a happy life: not just doing the right things but enjoying God’s Word. We’ll see how the new birth plants us by the stream, and how the Holy Spirit keeps us connected to God. Listen, ready to be rooted in God and walk in the legacy He gave to you in His Son.

May this first podcast of the year set us on a course toward greater faithfulness and fruitfulness in Christ! Let’s also keep in mind that this is an ideal time of year to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or relative.

With this podcast, we complete our sermon series in Ezra–Nehemiah by examining Nehemiah, Chapter 13. What might Nehemiah 13 have to do with the coming of Christ? Well, everything, as we will see.

Like the books of Deuteronomy, Judges, and 2 Kings, the Book of Nehemiah ends with a sense of incompleteness and uncertainty. Although in Chapters 9 and 10, God’s people agreed in writing to repent of various sins and, at last, to obey God. Nehemiah points out in this final chapter that the people have fallen into the same sins yet again! The book leaves the reader longing to discover power for real inward change, for transformation that brings consistent growth in obedience to God.

Can you relate to our spiritual forefathers’ experience here? Have you ever felt — or do you even now feel — “stuck” in a cycle of sin, repentance, resolve, and repetition of the same sins? God’s good news is that Jesus Christ came not only to bear the penalty of our sin, but also to clothe us with the power to grow in Christlike character now.

Subscribe and share this podcast with a friend or relative who shares this same dilemma or is looking for a new church home!

SCRIPTURE: Nehemiah 9

This week, we take a good, hard look at another worship service from Nehemiah 9. Last week’s sermon on Nehemiah 8 described an atypical ideal for corporate worship: Ezra reads from the Law, leaders preach among the people, the people respond, and Nehemiah shepherds the people out with the call to rejoice. Nehemiah 9 records another corporate gathering occurring later that same month. However, this time, the chapter contains the content preached by the Levites. For six hours, the people listen to the Law. For an additional six hours, the people heard it applied. That application is essentially a retelling of redemptive history. It is a long chapter because it is a long story of redemption. First, we’ll read all of Nehemiah 9 to hear how this story of redemption is really a confession of sin coupled with a confession of God’s grace. As one commentator puts it, "it is a chapter of corporate confession pulsating between God’s grace and the people's ingratitude." It is yet another challenging chapter that helps us grow in the awareness of our own depravity, but likewise in our grasp of the grandness of God’s amazing grace.

What a God we serve! He puts up with so much, and yet He still provided His Son to atone for all our sin. Praise be to God!

SCRIPTURE: Neh. 8:1-12

This week we return to the book of Nehemiah, for our second week of Advent.

For Advent, we are looking through the lens of Ezra and Nehemiah to help us prepare our hearts for the King. Last week, we focused on hope. This week, we focus on joy.

Our passage in Nehemiah 8:1–12 ends on a joyful note. As a result of listening to God’s Word and adhering to both Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s commands, the people experience not merely joy, but “great” joy. Listening to the Word produces a festive, generous, and cheerful response.

Of course, in Christ, with the arrival of the Word-Made-Flesh, we get to experience this kind of festiveness, generosity, and cheerfulness each moment of every day. This doesn’t produce happy-clappy Christianity, but a depth of joy that outpaces our guilt, shame, and brokenness, as well as our feelings of frailty and anxiety. After listening, may you be motivated and inspired to go into this world with this eternal joy.

SCRIPTURE: Luke 10:25-37

This Sunday we welcomed Steve Jessen to our pulpit. Steve is the regional director for Ministry to North America Disaster Response, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America. Steve has served as a pastor and currently helps plug people and congregations into acts of service, particularly in times and places of great physical need. MNA Disaster Response is our Ministry of the Month, so it’s fitting to have Steve come to represent this ministry and also encourage us through the words from Luke 10:25-37, and challenge us to understand The Cost of Mercy.

NEHEMIAH 6 and 7:1-4

This week we are privileged to focus on Nehemiah 6. What an intriguing chapter! It’s filled with four major attempts to attack Nehemiah’s health, reputation, integrity, and life. For the murder-mystery types, this chapter is for you. Nehemiah truly was an outstanding leader—a hero, in fact. As we focus on his fierce resolve against relentless oppression, we once again read about an Old Testament Christ-figure. Certainly, Christ is the prototype leader who faced oppression no one has ever faced or could ever face. At the same time, just because Nehemiah was a Christ-like figure doesn’t mean we can’t be just as fierce in our resolve in 2025. That Christ gave us the fullest expression of a hero doesn’t let us off the hook. Even today, we are called to live with a fierce resolve to stand on the gospel, willing and able to withstand the devil’s schemes. As we focus on Nehemiah 6, we pray the Holy Spirit will continually strengthen us by grace in Christ (II Timothy 2:1) as Christ’s ambassadors!

SCRIPTURE: Nehemiah Chapter 5

More problems plague the first generation of new exiles in Jerusalem in Nehemiah 5. Problems exist from the outside—enemies surround Israel who do not want these Jews to succeed. However, in Nehemiah 5, we encounter significant internal problems. The economy is plagued by, well, a plague. Actually, more than that, the upper class uses extortion, exorbitant taxation, and high interest rates to exploit their own people! So much so, some lower-class farmers are forced to sell their own children into slavery (bondservitude).

The situation is dire, indeed.

Enter Nehemiah! He addresses issues with a stern rebuke, forcing the upper crust to commit to change, including taking religious vows to hold them accountable. It’s hard to imagine how important a figure like Nehemiah was. Without his extreme approach to fixing the economic crisis, one can only wonder how long Israel would self-implode. However, redemptive history involves God’s overpowering and overreaching hand through people to achieve His purposes and promises.

It’s a practical and challenging chapter. May the Lord use this Sunday Sermon for His glory and our good.

Peace,

Pastor Mark

SCRIPTURE: Nehemiah 4

Paul warned his protege Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). Nehemiah 4 teaches us especially about responding to self-declared opponents of Christ and His people. While openly aggressive persecution of Christians is relatively rare in modern North America, God wants believers everywhere to ready themselves to face opposition faithfully. Because God is worthy of our all, He calls us to respond to this world’s hostility with a fierce obedience, a response that begins with bold prayer, follows with shrewd action, and flows from a heart transformed by God’s love in Christ.