Sermon Archive - 2015
Marriage, a Blessing or a Curse?
January 18, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
Marriage is hard. Marriage is a good gift from a God committed to the flourishing of his creation. However, like anything with significant power, marriage has the potential to not only produce tremendous life and joy, but also pain and even despair. If marriage is such a blessing why does it often feel like such a curse? Many of you have asked for a sermon series on marriage, and many of you have voiced concern over your marriage and/or the marriage of your friends. So over the next few weeks we will look to God’s word to shape our vision of marriage, and to lead us into the thriving life he intended for us in and through our marriages. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Marriage: Who is it for?
January 25, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
Who is marriage for? Is marriage a blessing or a curse? If we know who marriage is for and we learn to live out that vision, then marriage is a blessing to us and all connected to us. However, if we misunderstand or resist who marriage is really for, then marriage becomes a crushing burden and a curse. Let’s not get this question wrong. Thankfully God makes clear in the bible his design and intention for marriage. He wants us to thrive, like a tree planted by streams of water bearing fruit to all around. Let’s trust him with our marriages, and with our dreams for marriage. I can’t wait to worship together this Sunday. Pastor David
Marriage: How Do We Find Happiness?
February 1, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
And they lived happily ever after. Really? We all want to be happy and marriage can produce such happiness, but it can also do exactly the opposite. This is the question for the sermon this Sunday: How do we find happiness in our marriage when the source of our greatest unhappiness can often be our marriage? Jesus is not far from our difficulty and he is more committed to our flourishing than we can imagine. We can trust him, especially with our marriages. Jesus is here to comfort us, guide us, and empower us to follow him. Let’s gather together to hear from him and worship him this Sunday. Pastor David
Marriage: What God Has Joined
February 8, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
Divorce is devastating and tragically we have all been touched by it in some fashion. Over the last weeks we have been looking at the biblical vision of marriage. It is beautiful. This Sunday we turn to the biblical view of divorce. Is it ever allowed? In what situations? How does God feel about divorce? What hope does he offer if we have been divorced or are even contemplating it right now? Whether it is directly for you, or so that you can love and support a family member, a friend, or a neighbor, come listen to the challenging but life-giving teaching from God’s word on divorce. Jesus is good and we can trust him with our marriages. Pastor David
Marriage: Pursuing Your Future Spouse
February 15, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
Are you ready to pursue your future spouse? I am not talking only to the unmarried and the answer is not Jesus. No simple Sunday school answers please. This Sunday is the last sermon in our current series on marriage. For the married, what is God doing right now in the life of your spouse? For the unmarried, above all else what key quality should you look for in someone to marry? In preparation for Sunday reflect on this quote from Pastor Eugene Peterson in the context of your relationships: ”The assumption of spirituality is that always God is doing something before I know it. So the task is not to get God to do something I think needs to be done, but to become aware of what God is doing so that I can respond to it and participate and take delight in it.” I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Hospitality
March 8, 2015 • Rev. Adam Feichtmann
Do you know the deep joy of being genuinely welcomed and wanted? Do you know how to offer this life giving experience to others? When we throw a party or have guests over we often conflate hospitality and entertaining. Are they really the same? This Sunday we will be studying Luke 14 and Jesus’ teaching on hospitality. Read the chapter out loud with friends and family. Ask yourselves, “What are the new hosting and guest etiquettes that Jesus is presenting and where do we find ourselves in these stories? I look forward to worshiping together with you this Sunday. Jesus is ready to welcome you. You are lovingly wanted. Pastor Adam
Jesus the Prophet
March 15, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
Silence. It’s terrifying. Well, yes. After a long day some silence might be nice. But relational silence, silence that screams we are being ignored, or that we have been rejected, or worse that no one is there at all to respond, that kind of silence is the dread under all of our anxiety and fear. This Sunday we start a sermon series that will help us prepare for Easter. Jesus has always been a controversial figure. People have always been trying to figure out who he is and what he is all about. Since the earliest Christian communities, Jesus’ followers have used three categories to help wrap their minds and hearts around his significance: prophet, priest, and king. Jesus is the fulfillment of the ancient Hebrew expectations for a great prophet, priest, and king who would accomplish what mere human prophets, priests, and kings never could. Over the next three weeks we will explore the identity, mission, and significance of Jesus as prophet (this Sunday), priest (3/22), and king (3/29), culminating at Easter when we will look at the glory of the risen Jesus in Revelation 1. When you think of Jesus what do you think? When you pray to Jesus to whom do you think you are praying? This Sunday we look at the significance of Jesus as the great and long expect prophet. Did you know you needed a great prophet? I can’t wait to worship together this Sunday and listen to our great prophet shatter our silence. Pastor David
Jesus the Priest
March 22, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
Do you ever feel distant from God? Do you ever feel insecure? I do. This sermon is for us. The current series of sermons is all about confronting our “Ricky-Bobby” Jesus, our small, truncated, safe mental versions of Jesus, with the real Jesus, powerful, dangerous, but good and life giving. Everybody has a “Ricky-Bobby” Jesus. Do you know yours? Last week we saw that Jesus is the great prophet who challenges us and calls us to faithfulness and the thriving life. However he is not only a prophet, but a prophet on a cross who died for us, giving himself completely for us. This is a prophet we can trust no matter how challenging his words to us might be. God is not silent. He has always spoken to his people through his prophets and now supremely through the culmination of all the prophets, Jesus. This week we turn to another biblical office, the office of priest, and how Jesus is the fulfillment and completion of the priesthood. What the ancient Hebrew priests pointed to, Jesus fully accomplishes. Jesus covers the distance between us and God and unwinds the tangle of our insecurity. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Jesus the King
March 29, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
473,000,000 results in .51 seconds. This is how much we need a King. This Sunday, Palm Sunday, is the day we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, riding over the palm branches and cloaks of those who cheered him on. It was the beginning of the last week of his life. Jesus the King rides into the heart of the storm, Jerusalem. He knows he will not come out alive. He knows he entered Jerusalem as king and will leave a king on a cross. Which is exactly the kind of king we need. Search for “how to have a happy life” on google. There are a few opinions out there. The question is not whether we can find someone wants to lead us; there are a lot of would-be kings. The question is will we find the right king to lead us into the thriving life we long to experience. Take a moment to prepare for worship this Sunday by reading Matthew 21. Consider inviting a neighbor, friend, or co-worker to join us for our Easter worship: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter Sunday. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Seeing Beyond the Veil
April 5, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
The open ocean, horizon to horizon nothing but endless water. The desert, arid featureless wilderness for as far as you can see. No GPS. No cell phone reception. How do you navigate your way? How did the ancient Nabataeans make their way across the trackless desert? How did the ancient Phoenicians traverse the dark waters? How are we making our way through the circumstances we face? We may not be stuck in the desert or the ocean, but our normal day to day is enough to weigh us down, stress us out, overwhelm us, and even break us with anxiety. What are we to do? This Sunday we re-orient our lives once again around the resurrection of Jesus. We left our Maundy Thursday worship in silence and darkness. Read Revelation chapter one. It is silent and dark no more. We find here what we need to navigate heroically the most dangerous deserts and the most threatening oceans. Pastor David
Drifting from God and How to Return
April 12, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
A toddler is running into a busy street, chasing a ball, ignoring the panicked calls of his parents. Parents who love their children will do everything to protect them, but so often a child’s greatest danger is himself. A loving father would never leave his children on the precipice of destruction without a stern warning, a call to return to safety, and intense pursuit. God is a loving father. This Sunday we start a new series on the book of Malachi entitled, Drifting From God and How to Return. How would you know if you drifted away from God? If you had drifted away how would you return? Our greatest danger is us. God is going to hold the mirror up so we can see ourselves for who we really are, and then help us to become the people he intended us to be and who we long to become. What else would we expect from a loving father? Pastor David
Rhythms of Return
April 19, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
We are paper mache. Paper mache, French for “chewed paper,” a kid crafting staple, is most often made of strips of paper draped over some type of a form, then saturated and pasted together with a wet adhesive. Once the adhesive dries the strips of paper harden together in the shape of whatever form they were draped over. As we continue listening to God through his prophet Malachi this Sunday, we are once again listening in on a tough conversation. God as a loving father is confronting his people because they have drifted away from him and put themselves in great danger. God knows that his people will be shaped by what they honor most, by what they worship. In love God reveals to them that they have not draped their lives over him, choosing instead lesser and distorted things that are now forming the shape of their lives. God shows them that they have drifted from him and he gives them a concrete and specific way to return. What shape is your life taking? It will take on the form of whatever you have draped your life over, whatever you honor most. We are paper mache. For worship this Sunday come ready to hear from God and to be formed in his image. Pastor David
The Foundation of a Faithful Father
May 3, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
Trust. More than anything else trust is the foundation of relationships. We all long for loving relationships with those we can trust. However, each and every one of us falls short of complete trustworthiness. Whether in massive lies or small subtle misdirection of perception, we all cover up the truth, and our relationships are corrupted. What hope do we have to experience the relationships we long for? Through his prophet Malachi, God shows us. This Sunday we return to our series on Malachi. God once again lovingly exposes the true condition of his people. They have drifted from him. He not only calls them back, but he shows them the way to experience loving relationships founded on trust. They needed this message and so do we. Read and pray through Malachi 2:10-3:7. Prepare yourself to hear from Jesus through his word this Sunday. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David
Return to Me
May 10, 2015 • Rev. David Juelfs
The worst illnesses can hide in us until it is too late. If only we could have known. This is true of physical illness and spiritual. As a good father, God sent the prophet Malachi to help his people see their true condition and to call them back to health. Exposing our illness is not an expression of God’s anger, but his love and mercy. This Sunday we finish our brief series on the book of Malachi. Consider taking 15 minutes this weekend to read through the entire book. Engage the book like you are listening to your loving father. It may expose some illness hiding within you, or just be a warning of potential danger. Either way it will be loving words from a father caring for you and calling you to follow him on the path to health. I can’t wait to worship together. Pastor David