Sermons from Seven Mile Road Church in Waltham

God's Relentless Pursuit || Understanding God's Love

In this sermon, Pastor Clint continues our series on the book of Jonah. Chapter 4 begins with Jonah’s angry response to God for the mercy shown to Nineveh. He knows God is gracious and loving but doesn’t enjoy seeing such love extended to his enemies. But God, still pursuing Jonah, teaches Jonah a lesson about his compassion. Does Jonah see his pride and embrace God’s love? Or does he continue in self-centeredness? The book of Jonah ends without revealing Jonah’s response, and in doing so invites the reader to ask, “How will you respond?”

God's Relentless Pursuit || Mystery of Mercy

In this sermon, Pastor Clint continues our series on the book of Jonah by looking at chapter three. Jonah has been rescued in a miraculous way by God and is given a second chance to faithfully proclaim God's message to the Ninevites. As he does, God grants the entire city of Nineveh repentance. Just as God is merciful toward a wayward prophet and a wicked city, he is rich in mercy toward us.

God's Relentless Pursuit || Restored by Grace

In this sermon, Pastor Kevin continues our series on the book of Jonah by looking at chapter two. In the last chapter, Jonah's flight from the presence of God came to a head when he was swallowed by a giant fish. Under normal circumstances, this would mean certain death. But Jonah doesn't die. Jonah prays to God and God saves him. The last words of Jonah's prayer are "Salvation belongs to the LORD." God's grace moved Jonah from death to life. What does it look like when we encounter such restorative grace?

God's Relentless Pursuit || Running from God

In this sermon, Pastor Kevin continues our series on the book of Jonah by looking at the first chapter. This book opens with God commanding his prophet, Jonah, to share his word with Israel's enemies in Nineveh. Instead of obeying God, Jonah runs as far away as he can. Yet, no matter how far he goes, God pursues him relentlessly. It's easy for us to criticize Jonah, but we often run from God in the same way. We're prone to wander, but God relentlessly pursues us by his grace.

God's Relentless Pursuit || We Are Jonah

In this sermon, Pastor Clint begins our new, six-part sermon series on the book of Jonah, called God's Relentless Pursuit. Jonah was a reluctant prophet of a relentless God. God sent Jonah to his enemies to offer an opportunity to repent of evil and receive forgiveness. Instead of obeying God, Jonah ran as far away as he could. Throughout this book, we see God's relentless pursuit of not only Jonah, but also the enemies of his people. In this sermon, we give an overview of the book of Jonah before diving in during the weeks to come. We'll walk through Scripture and discover our loving God, who pursues us with restoration, even when we run. How can we understand such a love?

We Believe || The Life Everlasting

In this sermon, Pastor Clint finishes off our series on the Apostles' Creed by exploring the life everlasting. We believe in the life everlasting—eternal life. The end of the creed essentially summarizes the end of all things. Christians look forward to eternal life in communion with God. But what does this life look like? In this sermon, we open the Scriptures to see what that life entails and the story of how God made a way for death-bound outsiders to become life-bound insiders.

We Believe || The Resurrection of the Body

In this sermon, Pastor Jeremy explores the resurrection of the body. We believe in the resurrection of the body. That means we believe in a physical eternal state beyond death where we are fully alive and fully human. In our Apostles' Creed series, we've talked about Jesus' resurrection and his return to judge the living and the dead. Now, on the heels of Easter, we open up the Scriptures to see what the Bible says about the resurrection God has promised the church through Christ.

In this sermon, Pastor Clint explores the forgiveness of sins. As a forgiven people, the church believes in the forgiveness of sins. To believe in the forgiveness of sins is to first acknowledge that we have sin that needs forgiving. God's forgiveness is a solution to the problem of our own sin. Our debt has been paid by Jesus on the cross, yet often we still harbor our own grudges and bitterness, withholding forgiveness from others. In this sermon, we open up the Bible to see how we, as a forgiven people, can push past our fear of forgiveness

We Believe || I Believe in the Church

In this sermon, Pastor Clint explores the Church. We believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints. When we recite that line of the creed, we confess our belief in the universal and united church of Christ that transcends time, geography, ethnicity, gender, and any other distinguisher beyond identification with Jesus. We've previously talked about how the church is the people of God, filled with the presence of God, set apart for the purposes of God in the world. In this sermon, we tease out more of the identity of the Church that Jesus bought with his blood.

We Believe || I Believe in the Holy Spirit

In this sermon, Pastor Clint explores the Holy Spirit. Our line from the creed this week is, "We believe in the Holy Spirit." Out of the three persons of our triune God, the Holy Spirit often carries the most mystery. Father and Son are relatable to our human experience, but Spirit feels other-worldly. Although we feel a lot of mystery surrounding the identity and work of the Spirit, Scripture actually tells us a lot about His person, power, and presence. In this sermon, we open the Bible to hear the Spirit's own words concerning Himself.