We are happy to provide audio recordings of our sermons online as a ministry, especially for those who are providentially hindered from attending worship services this week. God speaks to us through the preaching of his word, and we pray that he will speak to you through the listening of these sermons. But we also pray that those who visit here will become part of the fellowship of a local church. Listening to sermons online is no substitute for being a part of a church family, committed to love and serve one another.
Current Sermon Series: John
We are currently worshiping God through the preaching and consideration of the Gospel of John. John's Gospel is distinct among the four. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic (literally "same view") Gospels because they are very similar in progression. But John's Gospel is unique.
Instead of reporting the interaction of Jesus with the crowds as they Synoptics do, John prefers to focus on individual and intimate interactions. Whereas Matthew and Luke begin with Jesus' nativity and childhood, and Luke with the start of his public ministry, John begins with the pre-existing and pre-incarnate Word of God who became flesh. John takes the epic themes of Genesis such as the struggle between light and darkness as prologue to his own writing.
Written near the end of his life in AD 85-90, John's Gospel is no dispassionate recounting of mere historical facts. He tells us the purpose of his Gospel: " . . . so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (John 20:31).
The Word That Makes People True
January 22, 2012 We cannot determine truth, but we are determined by it.
John 8:12-31
Rev. Chip Hammond
John What Is Joined Together In God, Let No Man Separate
January 15, 2012 Truth and Love are not identical, but they are inseparable. Because God is both truth and love, there is no real love that does not exalt truth, and there is no truth if it is not coupled with love.
John 7:45-52
Rev. Chip Hammond
John The More Things Change
January 8, 2012 Jesus said, "I've not come to bring peace, but a sword." Jesus divides people. He also unites them. But before they are united they must be divided from their sin and ignorance.
John 7:40-44
Rev. Chip Hammond
John He Became That We May Become
December 25, 2011 The unchanging God changed; he became something that he was not, in order that we who could not change could be something we were by fallen nature not - the children of God.
John 1:9-14
Rev. Chip Hammond
John With Such Peace, Who Needs Strife?
December 18, 2011 Prince of Peace? Jesus himself said that he came to earth, not to bring peace, but to bring a sword. There will be peace, but that peace will come through and despite the strife that accompanies it.
Luke 1:26-38
Rev. Chip Hammond
Luke Where Are You Pointing?
December 11, 2011 Advent is the reason to remember the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah in preparation for the anticipation of his return. In this Advent season, what are you oriented toward? Where are you pointing? And as important, by the way you are living, where are you pointing other people?
John 1:6-9
Rev. Chip Hammond
John It Won't Be Long Now
December 4, 2011 The promise that a Redeemer would come was made long ago, time out of mind. It seemed like that time would never arrive, and then, all of a sudden, He was here. Upon his return to His Father he did not leave us as orphans; he sent us his Holy Spirit. But he said he would return. It's been so long, it seems like that time will never arrive. But then, one day, it will be here, and we who are his will be looking back on that date and celebrating his parousia even as we now look back and celebrate his advent.
2 Peter 3:1-13
Rev. Chip Hammond
2 Peter Don't Be Generous, Be Thankful
November 27, 2011 We are only ever really truly thankful for what we have not earned and believe we do not deserve. No one is truly thankful for getting what they believe they have coming to them. Strange as it may sound at first, thankfulness and generosity cannot coexist. When we are "generous" we see ourselves giving sacrificially from our store. But when we are really thankful, we recognize that we give only what we don't actually own, and no one could really count himself generous who gives the wealth of another.
1 Chronicles 29:10-18
Rev. Chip Hammond
1 Chronicles, Thanksgiving How Can We Know a Christ Who Isn't Here?
November 20, 2011 Christ has ascended into heaven and is at the right hand of the Father. But the Holy Spirit has been given to us to be with us forever, and through him we are able to come to a Christ who is there, not here.
John 7:32-39
Rev. Chip Hammond
John Knowing What or Knowing Who?
November 13, 2011 In Christ, the transcendent God is made imminent to us; In him, the God we could not really know becomes intimately knowable.
John 7:25-31
Rev. Chip Hammond
John What He Knows
November 6, 2011 Jesus came that we might have true knowledge of God and true knowledge of ourselves.
John 7:14-24
Rev. Chip Hammond
John Semper Reformanda
October 30, 2011 The things that God esteems are not the same as the things man esteems. The Reformation repudiated the ostentation and false piety of Rome, and refocused the church on the things near to God's heart. The movement continues by watching that we remain faithful to focus on what God esteems.
Mark 12:38 - 13:2
Rev. Chip Hammond
Mark, Reformation Supporter or True Disciple?
October 23, 2011 Receiving Jesus means more than just being his fans.
John 7:1-13
Rev. Chip Hammond
John What Are You Looking For?
October 2, 2011 Christ is the end of what we seek - he's not the means to the end.
John 6:26-40
Rev. Chip Hammond
John In Search of the Mythical Jesus?
September 25, 2011 If Jesus is God in the flesh, the gospel has a certain set of implications with regard to who we are, what we need and what standing we have before God. The real Jesus of history shatters or self-sufficient, our self-worth, our self-esteem, and so it is far easier to seek after a mythical Jesus of our own making. Which Jesus do you seek? The real Jesus of history, or a mythical Jesus with whom you can be comfortable?
John 6:16-27
Rev. Chip Hammond
John Consider the Source
September 18, 2011 Seeking to serve God from your own strength will lead to depletion, bitterness, disappointment and failure. Serving God in the strength he provides will lead to abundance for you and those you serve in Jesus' name.
John 6:1-15
Rev. Chip Hammond
John Man's Wisdom, God's Power
September 11, 2011 On the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks, we do well to remember that politicians may bring truce, but not real peace, and that peaceful practitioners of false religions should never be a source of encouragement for God's people.
1 Corinthinas 2:1-9
Rev. Chip Hammond
9-11 What Testimony Will You Accept?
September 4, 2011 If the only testimony you will receive is the testimony that you yourself determine, you can never believe.
John 5:31-45
Rev. Chip Hammond
John
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