The Word of God is sown into hearts, but all hearts don't respond the same way. Pastor Scott teaches on the Parable of the Sower showing four very different types of hearers. Some are completely shut, and others get excited but eventually fall away. Other people grow but distractions choke any real fruit from coming forth. The good heart, though, hears and receives and produces abounding fruit over the long haul. Our relationship to God's Word determines our measure of fruit, and Pastor Scott presses the point that fruitfulness is not optional. The message concludes with some practical thoughts on what fruit looks like, and how we can be fruitful.
Why Parables?
Parables are a form of teaching often associated with Jesus because he used them frequently. A parable employs story and metaphor to explain an idea. Sometimes parables are very easy to understand, but sometimes the point is not immediately obvious and needs to be searched out. Pastor Scott explores the question the disciples asked Jesus of why speak in parables. The answer to that question is very different than what most people think. This message serves as an introduction to the series on parables.
Easter 2017
Pastor Scott walks through the resurrection narrative found in John 20-21 for most of the message and then points out three simple things that can be seen. We see weak, doubting people many of whom denied the Lord. We see the resurrected Christ coming to these struggling people not to condemn but to help. We see that when these weak seekers encounter the risen Christ their lives are utterly transformed and they go out and turn the world upside down. Parallels are made throughout the message of how Jesus works in our lives today in much the same way.
Palm Sunday 2017
Out of John 12 Pastor Scott tells the story of the triumphal entry of Jesus giving special emphasis on all the different types of people found in this story and their motives for being there. Motives matter. It's not just important what we do but why we do it. Without right motives we will not be able to stand firm and run the race to the end. The Bible teaches that God will weigh motives on the great day of judgment. Motives will be revealed. The message ends with several ways we can cultivate right motives.
Standalone Sermons: Steadfast Love in the Darkness
Lamentations 3 promises that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. But the background of Lamentations is not happiness and blessing, but suffering and destruction. How does the steadfast love of the Lord come to us in times of pain and suffering? Nate draws on Scripture and personal experience to unpack what it looks like to be loved by God through the hard times of life. We learn that life hits hard, but the love of God comes stronger. Those moments that were meant to tear us down, actually can build us up stronger than we were. The sermon gives special encouragement and guidance for those in the midst of mental illness.
Rend Your Heart
God is calling us to a deeper level of repentance and worship as we approach the season of Lent. Paul Moon takes us through the first 2 chapters of Joel in this sermon. We explore God’s judgement and justice while celebrating the grace and love He offers us in the midst of it all. God is looking for a people prepared not with just head knowledge but pure hearts before Him.
When You Fast
Fasting through the centuries has often led to unhealthy extremes and efforts to merit God's favor. Today the pendulum has swung the other way to the point of neglect. In Matthew 6:16-18 Jesus teaches us several things about fasting. He expects his followers to fast. It is assumed that we will fast. There is a right way and a wrong way to fast. And fasting, when done rightly, is seen and rewarded by the Father. Pastor Scott expands on these simple ideas by highlighting the story and promises of Isaiah 58. This sermon aims to motivate the church to not throw out the practice of fasting but to keep it alive as an expression of deep hunger for God.
Forget Not
It is a universal human desire to be happy and people everywhere seem to work hard at pursuing it. Most experience, at best, temporary moments of happiness connected to something they bought or watched or experienced. Deep abiding joy is rare and yet is a promise from God to the follower of Christ. Pastor Scott expounds on Psalm 103 and David's example of preaching to his own soul as the way to stir up the waters of joy by way of remembrance. Those who know God have tremendous reasons to be joyful and several of these reasons are discussed.
Stir One Another
The local church is God's idea and is intended to be a life-giving experience for each of us. The call in Scripture is for us to have deep involvement. The problem today is that in our culture there are so many distractions. Many Christians have become bored with church gatherings and have begun to gather less and less. Pastor Scott preaches out of Hebrews 10:24-25, which presses the believers to stir one another and to not give up meeting together. The message ends with some practical instructions on how to make gathering with Christians nourishing and refreshing. This is a great message for January as decisions are being made as to how to distribute our time for 2017.
Cheerful Giving
Perhaps the touchiest subject amongst professing Christians is that of money and the idea of tithing. Jesus talked much about money in his teachings because the way we relate to money reveals the condition of the heart. Pastor Scott takes us into Paul's second letter to the Corinthians and focuses in specifically on chapter 9:6-8. Tithing is defined and discussed and the question of whether it is required for New Testament believers since we aren't under the law. The message is a strong call for each of us to give generously, sacrificially, cheerfully and secretly. When we give in this way we receive a rich reward of experiencing God's pleasure from our giving. We also reap a bigger more generous heart. Being generous is natural for the person who has been rescued from sin and hell. It's an expression of gratitude.