Sermon Archive

One of the unexpected benefits of being a part of a church isn’t what you get from it, but how essential you can become to making sure others get something from it. In God’s economy, sometimes the most essential aspect of our own faith is the power and persistence of the faith of others. When a paralyzed man had physical limitations that kept him from Jesus, it was his friend’s faith that brought him to Jesus’s feet. That lesson has a powerful lesson for all of us about the way faith, hope, and love work in the kingdom of God.

What do you want? Simple enough question, but often a complex answer. It is that question, though, that gets to the heart of discipleship. More than knowledge, discipleship is about desire. When a man “full of leprosy” approached Jesus, his request revealed his heart. What he wanted, even more than to be healed was to be made clean.

LoveJeffCo is an initiative of Providence Church to love our community and support local ministries that are changing lives in Jefferson County. One of our oldest and most significant partnerships is with Life Outreach Center. In this message, Director of LOC Cathy Gleeson shares her heart for the unborn and those that find themselves with unwanted or unexpected pregnancies. LOC is the frontline of ministry and serves a crucial role in sharing the gospel and supporting those that are most vulnerable.

Few things will get you dismissed quicker in many peoples minds than confessing you believe in angels or demons. Follow that up with believing in miracles and you’ll be put in the corner as someone that can happily be ignored. Yet Luke’s gospel is full of both. Demon possession, exorcisms, healings, raising people from the dead- that’s just a sampling of what Luke documents from those that were there. So what do we, western-enlightened people, think about things like this that can be so hard to believe? For starters, we focus on the same thing Luke does- that Jesus is all-powerful, yet unfailingly kind.

Jesus had them right where he wanted them. He had ministry momentum. He had a growing reputation. He had people talking. He had people ready to follow. All he needed to do is capitalize on the moment and he could’ve raised a following, funded his ministry, and set a course for revolution. Instead, he made everyone mad and just about got thrown off a cliff. Why would Jesus do this? Why waste this opportunity in front of his hometown crowd? It has everything to do with what Jesus came to do and what we’re called to follow.

When Jesus calls his disciples, he isn’t simply blessing their lives with his presence. He’s calling them to a life that looks, feels, and acts radically different than the life they’ve always lived. Often that calling will result in confusion, disagreement, and frustration. In Jesus’s calling of Peter, all of these things are present, but in the midst of all of that, Peter recognizes one core truth: Jesus loves me more than, I love me. And on that singular truth, all our hopes, plans, and ultimately or lives hang.

Christianity is full of too many rules- rules that are outdated and don’t make sense. At least that’s the narrative. When Jesus deals with Satan in the wilderness, what we learn is that it’s not about the rules. It was never about the rules. It’s about understanding, knowing, and worshipping God. In order for that to happen, we must see God correctly- for who he truly is. Jesus didn’t sin, but it wasn’t because he had more willpower than the rest of us. It’s because he knew the Father, and trusted the Father, more than the rest of us.

Jesus became a human, just like us. This tenant of Christianity is essential to understanding the life, mission, and accomplishment of Jesus. However, the fact that he took on flesh and dwelt among us is not the most important of what Jesus did- as though becoming like us was the high point of Jesus’s work. As important as his incarnation was, it’s all the ways that he’s not like us that we must understand if we truly want to understand who Jesus is and what he did.

Be baptized. Repent. Be generous. Don’t rely on your heritage. John the Baptist was a lot of things- but scared isn’t one of them. He didn’t hesitate and didn’t mince his words. His job was to prepare the people to hear the message of Jesus and he did that by proclaiming a message of repentance. For everyone. EVERYONE. Jesus may be for everyone, but so is the need for repentance. And so is the need for someone to tell them.

As you begin to age, things that seemed to be so normal can oftentimes feel elusive. Things that were commonplace become immensely valuable as they become increasingly rare. As Luke opens his gospel, he writes to help us to find one of those things that is increasingly rare- certainty. At times, life can feel like a fog has rolled in and things that used to be so easy, so clear, and so certain are now just a mist. Luke’s gospel can help us to sort through that fog and know where to take that next step.

As a new year begins, we take a few moments to reflect back on the year that was and the goals for 2023. As we look toward the new year, we let Anna and Simeon be our guides as to what a worthy, life-long pursuit really looks like. And we rejoice with them when their eyes finally see that long, hoped-for dream. What will your pursuit be in 2023? Will it be built around you or built around Him?