Podcasts

The Living Stone, the Living Word, the Great High Priest

December 22, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Acts 19:35–40, 1 Peter 2:1–7, Hebrews 4:14–16

As we round out the season of Advent, Brock turns our attention to three lesser-known names for Jesus. First, we encounter Jesus as the 'Living Stone.’ Imagery from 1 Peter 2 reminds us that our faith is built on a living, dynamic foundation - not a cold, lifeless idol. Next, we're introduced to Jesus as the 'Living Word,' drawing parallels between the Bible as our 'letter from home' and Jesus as the embodiment of God's message to us. This perspective encourages us to seek nourishment and strength in both Scripture and in Christ's presence. Finally, we're shown Jesus as our 'Great High Priest,' using the analogy of free postage for soldiers' letters home. This powerful metaphor, rooted in Hebrews 4, illustrates how Christ's sacrifice has opened direct communication between us and God. As we reflect on these names, we're challenged to deepen our personal relationship with Jesus, moving beyond talking about God to actually talking with Him.

The Resurrection and the Life

December 15, 2024 • Colby Dorcely • John 11:25–27, Ecclesiastes 9:1–6, 1 Corinthians 15:52–55, Ephesians 2:1–5

In John 11:25-27 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life." This radical statement, made in the context of Lazarus' death, reveals Jesus' ultimate power over death itself. In this Advent message, Colby leads us on a deep exploration of this text and what it means to us— reminding us that while we believe in a future resurrection, we remain deeply vulnerable to the pain and mystery of death. However, Jesus offers us more than just hope for the future— He gives us eternal life now. As believers, we're already spiritually resurrected, living a new life in Christ. This truth should transform how we live, encouraging us to embrace our identity as God's children and live righteously. The message challenges us to confront our fears about death and find comfort in the promise of eternal life, urging us to live as resurrected people in the present.

Christ is Lord

December 8, 2024 • Cody Zimmerman • 2 Samuel 7:12–14, Isaiah 9:6–7, Matthew 16:13–23, Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 61:1–2

In this powerful exploration of Jesus as the Christ, we delve into the profound meaning behind this title. The sermon takes us on a journey through Scripture, from Peter's bold declaration in Matthew 16 to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. We're challenged to consider: what does it truly mean to proclaim Jesus as the Christ? It's not just a name, but a declaration of His identity as the long-awaited Messiah, the Anointed One, and the eternal King. This message invites us to move beyond intellectual understanding to a heart-level encounter with Jesus. Just as Peter's faith evolved, we too are called to grow in our understanding and surrender to Christ. The sermon reminds us that believing Jesus is the Christ isn't a one-time event, but a lifelong journey of discovery and deepening faith.

Jesus is Lord

December 1, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Acts 4:5–12, Luke 2:1–14

The iconic account of Jesus' birth in Luke 2 opens with the words, "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered." It is not by accident that from the very beginning of the Gospel story, Luke sets up Jesus and Caesar as polar opposites as one another in his gospel. In those days, Caesar Augustus was referred to as the "son of god" throughout the entire Roman empire in reference to his father, Julius Caesar. Also, Augustus was worshipped as the king who had brought peace and prosperity to the entire world. The subversive truth about Jesus is that we all are left with a choice: is Jesus Lord, or is Caesar? Is Jesus the Son of God, or is Caesar? In this first message of the advent season, Brock reminds us of the Lordship of Jesus, and that there is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved. Listen to our Advent Theme for this season, "No Name" by Red Rocks Worship, https://youtu.be/51ps3accgam?si=9wnijninahpgdzpd

Do it Regardless of the Outcome

November 24, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Jeremiah 32:6–12, Acts 21:10–14, James 5:11

Many of us let the fear of failure keep us from doing what we know God has called us to do. We live in a results-driven society, and consequently it is easy for us to place more importance in the results of our actions, than we do in who told us to act in the first place. The scripture is clear: our role is to obey what the Holy Spirit tells us to do. The thing is, the Spirit doesn’t always lead us into spaces where things go the way we would like them to. As a matter of fact, sometimes the Holy Spirit intentionally leads us into things that are hard. In this message, Brock walks through two stories where people are given the choice of whether or not to obey, all the while knowing that their obedience would not yield good results. Sometimes we are led directly into hardship and into suffering. The Christian life is not a promise of an easy existence, but rather a promise of a life where we are never alone, and a life of peace beyond what makes sense.

Do it Tired | Sermon Audio

November 17, 2024 • Colby Dorcely • Isaiah 40:27–31

There's a bit of a grind to the Christian walk that doesn't get talked about all too often. Oftentimes, a real faith isn't so much about knowing the right things as it is about a willingness to continue to walk the narrow road even when we don't feel like it. We are called to keep walking even when we are wounded, even when we are anxious, and even when we are tired. The book of Isaiah was written to a people in ruins. They were beaten down, they were hopeless, and they were exhausted. They felt like they were far from home, and like God had forgotten about them and their pain. They were in despair. The pain and the pressure we feel from living in the world will get to you sometimes. It will leave you tired; and not in the sense that you are tired after a long day of work, but deeply, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. In this message Colby digs into the reminders and promises of Isaiah 40, which are just as applicable to us as they were to the people they were originally written to— promises of renewed strength and hope for those who wait on God; promises that God still sees you, and God still cares.

Do it Anxious

November 10, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Philippians 4:6–7

"Anxiety" has been a buzzword in our culture for quite some time now, and it doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. It's no secret that we are experiencing an epidemic of anxiety, depression, and despair in our time. One of the hard things about anxiety and depression is that there are no easy answers for it. There is no three step process to fix it; there is no easy way out of it. But in spite of that, there is one thing that is abundantly clear: if you read the scriptures you'll realize that anxiety is not a new. People have struggled with it going all the way back to the beginning, and if you do struggle with anxiety, you are not alone. In this message, Brock opens up and vulnerably addresses anxiety in his own life, and rather than giving a quick fix for anxiety, he points us to the hope and peace available to us in and during our anxiety.

Do it Wounded

November 3, 2024 • Cody Zimmerman • 2 Corinthians 4:6–12, Isaiah 53:5, John 20:27, Exodus 4:10–13

We all love a good underdog story. Stores of people who have overcome great adversity, hardship, or obstacles inspire us to pursue greatness. But for some reason, that doesn't translate to most of our faith journeys. Many people within the church, when confronted with obstacles to walking in their calling, let the obstacles have the last word. The truth is that we are all gifted in unique ways for the advancement of the Kingdom of God on the earth, but many of us let excuses like "I'm too busy," or, "I've been hurt before, and I'm not going to let that happen again," stop us from using those gifts. This series is all about the power in God's people deciding to "Do it Anyway," in spite of the obstacles. In this message, Cody starts off the series by talking about the importance of choosing to "Do it Wounded"— choosing to continue to show up even though we have been hurt, and choosing to serve even when we are living with the casualties of living in a fallen world.

The Gift of Mercy

October 27, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Mark 5:1–20, Luke 8:26–39, Romans 12:1–8

As we round out our series through the seven spiritual gifts of Romans 12, we turn to the final gift listed in the text: Mercy. Mercy is a topic that is discussed heavily in the gospels, but Jesus, surprisingly, didn't talk all that much about it. People asked Jesus to show them mercy all the time, but there are only a few times where Jesus actually uses the word "mercy" in his teaching; three to be exact. In the third of these three stories, Jesus heals a demon-possessed man, and then tells him to go and tell his friends how the Lord has had mercy on him. Now, if that story is the only record we have of Jesus describing something he did as being merciful, we could probably stand to learn about the gift of mercy by digging into that story. In this message, Brock breaks down the true meaning of mercy by drawing insights from the healing of the Gerasene Demoniac, and then gives three traits that mark people with the spiritual gift of mercy.

The Gift of Giving - The Seven

October 20, 2024 • Cody Zimmerman • Romans 12:1–8, Deuteronomy 8:17–18, Matthew 23:23, 2 Corinthians 9:6–12, Malachi 3:10

As we've gone through the seven spiritual gifts that Paul lists in Romans 12, one thing that has become clear is that the gifts are not intended to box people into one or two particular areas of service. In other words, just because you are gifted in one area, doesn't mean that you don't have to do the activities associated with the other areas of giftedness. We are all called to prophesy, some of us are just spiritually gifted at it. We are all called to serve, some of us are just spiritually gifted at it. It goes on down the list. The same thing is true of giving. We are all called to give and to be generous. Some of us are just supernaturally gifted at it. In this message, Cody lays out what the New and Old Testaments say about what role giving should play in the life of a follower of Jesus, and lays out traits that mark people who have been supernaturally gifted by the Holy Spirit to give and empower the church.

Where is the Lamb?

October 13, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Exodus 12:1–14, John 1:29, Luke 22:14–20, Genesis 22:1–14

We hear Jesus referred to as the "lamb of God" a lot, but what does that actually mean? Many people will tell you that a great way to sum up the gospel is John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he GAVE..." We know that Jesus is the Lamb of God because he gave himself as an offering on our behalf. But there's so much more to it than that. In this message, Brock takes a deep dive on the idea of the "lamb of God" as it appears all through scripture, and by doing that we can see that Jesus is ultimately revealed to be the answer to a question going all the way back to Genesis: "Where is the Lamb?"

The Gift of Leadership Part II

October 6, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Revelation 3:15–17, Romans 12:1–8, Matthew 23:11, Romans 12:11

It's an almost universal truth that the people who want power the most, are usually the most unfit to possess it. Last week, Colby gave us a solid framework of what qualities identify people who have been spiritually gifted to lead. But in Romans 12, Paul doesn't just list the gifts, he also tells us how to use them. In the case of leadership, he tells leaders to lead "with zeal." In this continuation of last week's message, Brock does a word study on the Greek words used for "Leader," and the word used for "zeal," shedding light on how leaders are to use their positions of influence.

The Gift of Leadership

September 29, 2024 • Colby Dorcely • Nehemiah 1:1–4

You can hear all kinds of talks on leadership in the business space, but it is not often discussed in a spiritual sense. It's easy to only think of leadership as a secular trait, but the fact is that God has uniquely gifted many people with a spiritual gift for leadership within the church— whether we are in full time ministry or not. In this message, Colby tackles what the Spiritual gift of leadership looks like, by examining on of the greatest leaders in scripture: the prophet Nehemiah.

The Gift of Encouragement

September 22, 2024 • Brock Tharpe • Acts 13:13, Acts 4:32–37, Acts 9:26–31, Acts 11:19–26

In this message on the spiritual gift of encouragement, Brock uses a specific character from the New Testament as a case study on just how powerful and beneficial to the church the gift of encouragement can be. Barnabas is not a character in the Bible that ever really receives top billing. It’s likely that you’ve never heard a sermon solely about his life and impact. But Barnabas’s name literally means “son of encouragement,” and as we see from the book of Acts, you don’t get Paul without Barnabas. As we look at how Barnabas used his gifts to equip people in the church from behind the scenes, the power and importance of encouraging people in the power of the Holy Spirit comes into full view.

The Gift of Teaching

September 15, 2024 • Cody Zimmerman • Romans 12:1–8, Matthew 7:28–29, Luke 2:41–52, Ephesians 4:7–12, 2 Timothy 3:14—4:2

Think about your favorite teacher you had when you were growing up. What was it that made that teacher your favorite? Odds are, they impacted you more than the rest because they did something to make the subject relatable to you. Maybe they took a particular interest in you and you. Maybe they did something to make the class fun. Whatever the reason was, odds are that your favorite teacher did not become your favorite just because they were smart. You probably don’t have lifelong memories of this person and how their teaching impacted you because of their knowledge of the subject matter. That seems like an obvious observation, but when we talk about the spiritual gift of teaching, many of us view it that way. We think that you have to have a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible or a seminary degree to have the gift of teaching. Because of that, many of us dismiss the gift of teaching, without seriously considering if we actually have it. In this message, Cody looks at 3 traits that the Bible shows us come with the gift of teaching. Maybe you are gifted to teach, but you’ve never felt called to step out into your giftedness. It’s our hope that this message could be a small step to change that.

White Stone Church

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