Solid Rock Church Sermons

In this sermon, we looked at how the Apostle John proclaimed the incarnate Christ through the witness of hearing Him, seeing Him, looking upon Him, and touching Him. John encouraged his readers and denounced false teachings that claimed Jesus was a spirit and could not be human. He declared that Jesus is eternal life and that, through Him, we can have fellowship and joy with the Father and the Son.

In this sermon, we looked at what it means to love those who are different from us. The parable of the Good Samaritan illustrates that true neighbors are those who show compassion, regardless of racial or cultural differences. Jesus challenges the lawyer's attempt to narrowly define "neighbor," highlighting that loving God is demonstrated by loving others. We can put this love into action by acting on the needs we see and feel, shifting our focus from identifying neighbors to actively being good neighbors, reflecting Jesus' love and compassion.

In this sermon, we began looking at what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves. We defined "neighbor" as anyone in our sphere of influence. Romans 12:14-18 teaches believers how to treat others, encouraging us to live peacefully in community with one another even when it’s challenging. As humans, we naturally do things that serve ourselves or look out for our own comfort and protection. In the same way, God calls us to love those around us.

In this sermon from Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus emphasizes the greatest commandments: to love God wholeheartedly and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The reality that God has made us valuable and worthy of love is often missed. This biblical self-love is not about selfishness but about recognizing and honoring the worth God has placed in each of us. Jesus modeled self-care by taking time to rest and pray, demonstrating how His ability to love others originated from His intimate relationship with the Father. When we receive and embrace God’s love, it naturally overflows into love for others, manifesting as patience, kindness, and empathy. Spiritual self-care includes spiritual disciplines that remind us that we are made for the love of God. Physical self-care allows us to care for our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. Emotional and mental self-care requires slowing down and acknowledging that we were created to have needs and to seek help from God and others. Just as Jesus knew and walked in the Father’s love, we are called to live life walking in God’s love for us.

In today’s Mother's Day sermon from Isaiah 61:1-4, we looked at the connection between how mothers care for their children and how God cares for us. Isaiah 66:13 reminds us that mothers bear the image of God by uniquely displaying God's desire to nurture and care for us as His children. However, before God calls moms to fulfill their calling to nurture and care for their children, He first invites them into a relationship in which He nurtures and cares for them. Isaiah 61:1-4 reminds us that, through the Gospel, God has promised to comfort all who mourn and bring healing to the pain in our stories, even healing pain that goes back to the generations before us. Before we can properly care for others, we must first learn to care for ourselves by bringing our own wounds and hurts to Jesus. To care for ourselves well is to take our wounds to Jesus and trust that He draws near to the brokenhearted. Jesus doesn’t change the past, but He does heal our pain and change the way the past shapes who we are today.

In this sermon, we looked at what it means to love God with all our soul. The Bible uses the word "soul" to describe the seat of personal identity and the part of us that will live eternally and reunite with our new bodies at the resurrection. Our soul is the place inside of us where we long to commune with God. It's also the part of us that yearns for what we desperately need. We love God with all our hearts when we authentically bring ourselves to Him and cry out for what we need from Him.

In this sermon from Mark 12:28-31, we looked at Jesus' command to love God with all our strength. To better understand what it looks like to love God with all our strength, we also looked at Paul's instructions in Romans 12:9-13. In this passage, Paul shows us what this kind of love looks like: Loving God with all our strength includes having brotherly affection for one another, showing honor to one another, serving one another with zeal and faithfulness, as well as rejoicing with one another while being patient in our suffering, constant in our prayer, generous in our finances, and hospitable to those we host in our homes. Loving God with all our strength is more than just going through the motions or checking the boxes on a list of things to do in order to be a “good Christian;” loving God with all our strength happens when we serve God and one another out of a sincere and irrevocable love for God.

In this sermon, we looked at the command to love God with all our minds. The Scripture describes the human mind as the central source for our thoughts, wisdom, and moral discernment. It's also the place where we experience inner dialogue and conflict, as well as spiritual battles and transformation. By engaging our intellect to understand God as He actually is, our minds are transformed, making us more like Jesus, increasing our capacity to marvel at the glory of God, and increasing our love for Him.

In this sermon from Mark 12:38-31, we took a deeper look into what it means to be human, and the role of the heart in relationship with God. Even though our hearts are susceptible to sin, God has designed our hearts to give us passion, desire, and emotion. Jesus died not just to remove our sin but also to give us new hearts with renewed passions and desires. With our hearts transformed, we are able to bring all of these things to God in the way in which we were designed. Our hearts are an essential part of who we are and critical in our ability to obey God’s commandment to love Him.

In this sermon, we examined how we are made in the image of God while also existing as created, finite beings. To be in the image of God does not mean we look like Him physically, but that we were created to reflect who God is. We see this in Genesis 1 and 2 in three ways: We have stewardship over God’s other creation, we have rationality and choice, and we are designed to be in relationship. While we are image bearers of an all-powerful God, we are also created beings and, therefore, we are limited and finite. This is a good thing and is according to God’s design! Even before sin entered the world, we see that Adam needed help, that he didn’t always make the right choices, and that he needed God to provide him with suitable relationship. We often live with the pressure to be more than we were created to be or with the thought that our limited nature is a weakness. Instead, when we rightly recognize our limits and our reliance on God, we reflect God in a way that honors who we were created to be and gives glory to Him.