Sermons from Christ Presbyterian Church in Burke, VA

During this service, our pastor preached on the faith of the Roman Centurion from Luke 7:1-10 and how he surprisingly illustrates the ethics and values of God’s Kingdom that Christ preached about in the ‘Sermon on the Plain.’ We also sang The LORD is My Light (Psalm 27 set to the Christmas tune by George Frederic Handel, Bethlehem (Seraph)) as well as “Only a Holy God” and “All Glory Be To Christ” among others.

Our pastor preached on the conclusion of Jesus’ ‘Sermon on the Plain’ from Luke 6:42-49. We considered the power of God to change us so that we can love people the way He is calling us to love them. We also sang Psalm 40 and the traditional hymns: Breathe on Me Breath of God and How Firm A Foundation among others.

This is the livestream of the worship service of thanksgiving we had on the 5th Anniversary of our launching worship. Dr. Peter Lee, Professor of Old Testament and Dean of Students at Reformed Theological Seminary Washington, D.C., was our special guest preacher. He preached from Matthew 16:18 and reminded us that Christ is the one who builds His church. The service was a great encouragement to see how the Lord is growing His kingdom in and around our nation’s capital.

During this worship service, we confessed our Faith in the Trinitarian God using the Athanasian Creed. In this sermon, our pastor preached on perhaps Jesus’ hardest and most counter-cultural law in His Kingdom: that we love our enemies. What does He mean? What does that look like? We considered these questions and praised Him for his steadfast love for us seen in Psalm 136.

On Ascension Sunday, we remember that our Savior physically ascended into the heavens and returned to his Father. We sang the 8th Century hymn, A Hymn of Glory Let us Sing, written by the Venerable Saint Bede as a retelling of the ascension from Acts 1:6-11. We also confessed Heidelberg Catechism 46, 47, and 49, which unpack the great benefits of Christ’s Ascension for us in the Church. We also sang the very appropriate hymn: Before the Throne of God Above. Then our pastor preached on the Third Beatitude in Luke 6:21, “Blessed are those who weep now, for you shall laugh.” We had been talking about how the ethics and values of Christ’s ‘Sermon on the Plain’ paint a beautiful picture of Christ’s beautiful Kingdom–one filled with joy for those who weep now. During the sermon, we considered two occasions in Scripture when our Savior wept with others and for others. Then we considered how those occasions help us process our griefs and sorrows (with an expectation that an unspeakable Joy is coming).

Our pastor preached on Jesus’s first Beatitude in his Sermon on the Plain, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” from Luke 6:20 and 24. After last week’s introduction to Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain and how the ethics of Christ’s kingdom turned the ancient world upside down, we went deeper into each Beatitude one week at a time, dwelling upon each one with the hope that the Holy Spirit would use Christ’s words shape our hearts to be like Christ’s heart.

During this service we rejoiced to receive 12 new members. We also rejoiced in the baptism of one of those young members as he received the sign and seal of being one of God’s Covenant people. Then our pastor preached an introduction to Christ’s ‘Sermon on the Plain’ from Luke 6:17-26. This passage marks a major transition in Luke’s Gospel. For the first time, we get to the heart of Jesus’ message about His Kingdom. During this sermon we start to consider the beauty of God’s Kingdom and its King, and how it presents an upside down (right-side up?) perspective on the values and ethics of the worldly kingdoms that Christ’s followers live in.