Pastor Eric preaches Sermon 2 of his "Sola" Series: Sola Gratia, or Grace Alone.

Pastor Eric begins a Sermon Series "Sola" on Reformation Sunday, October 29, 2017, as the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation is Celebrated. Solus Christus focuses on "Christ Alone."

The fledgling Thessalonian Church suffered persecution because of their faith and because they shunned the idols that were pervasive in that city. They became known far and wide for the steadfastness of their faith. Despite having little to no persecution in this country, the reverse seems to be happening to us here. We need to return to the foundation of our faith and not let the bread and circuses of this world dictate to us.

In Matthew 22: 1-14, Jesus tells us the parable of the wedding banquet. This parable shares with us how God has prepared for his creation a beautiful feast, but often times we find that we have rejected the invitation to celebrate with him.

In Matthew 21:33-46 Jesus tells us the "parable of the vineyard". This parable is a steady reminder for us to keep Jesus front and center in our lives and of the church. That our lives are to be all about Jesus, and that our cornerstone is to be Jesus, not the things of this world.

In Matthew 21:23-32 we hear Jesus' authority questioned by the chief priests and elders. In response to their questions, Jesus shares with them a parable about two sons asked to go work in a vineyard. Jesus' parable speaks to us today about how we are going to respond to his message: are we going to listen and actually do what God tells us, or are we simply going to ignore the message and go along our merry way following the ways of the world? There is a dire warning for all of us in Matthew 21:43 for those who choose to ignore the message of the Gospel and go our own way of the world: “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."

Matthew 20:1-16 In Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard we learn from Jesus that we are called to be thankful for whatever God has given to us. So often though in our lives, we live lives of comparison feeling as though we do not get what we feel that we deserve. However, our God is a gracious God and he continually gives us everything that we need, and rather than have our eyes fixed on ourselves and what we do not have, we must have our eyes focused on Jesus.

Peter asks Jesus the question that we all want to ask: how many times do we have to forgive our brother? The answer Jesus gives is a challenge, because he shows us through the parable of the unforgiving servant that just as forgiving as our Father in Heaven forgives all of our sins, we must forgive all the sins of our brother. TEXT: Matthew 18:21-35

Matthew 18:1-14 has three different parts that at first glance do not seem to go together. However, they all have the same theme and that is that God values unity in the body of Christ.

Jesus tells the disciples and us that in order to be his disciples, we need to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him. Loosing our lives for Jesus' sake is hard, but the rewards are out of this world!

Romans 12:9-12; Matthew 16:21-28