2021 Sermons

God is best at building connections because He is the source of all things and in the end, all will be under Him. That is the summation of all things which is possible because of His great power demonstrated through the resurrection.

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
-- Romans 11:35-36

We connect with God through faith. He helps us connect with each other. In God’s plan, relational connectedness leads to oneness with God and one another.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you…..Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
-- James 4:7-10

Not only is God our creator, He is the sustainer of all life. In light of that, how should we die? Yes, also, how should we live? How should we view life and death? Is it up to us to disconnect from life?

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
-- Psalms 90:12-14

How do we relate to those who are considering Medical Assistance in Dying as a way to end their lives? What does the Bible say? How does our Anabaptist Theology inform our view of this issue? God enables us to live and die for His glory!

For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
-- Romans 14:7-8

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God calls people into relationship. But they are not loosely formed but rather involve mutually-binding commitments of loyalty and faithfulness. The Old Testament points to the New Covenant that God will make with His people through Jesus! God’s gracious covenant making becomes the manner in which we are to relate to one another as we follow Jesus together.

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart...

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For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
-- 2 Corinthians 6:16

We regularly talk hockey or the weather. But sadly we are less likely to Talk Jesus! We will review the importance of how God has been Talking Jesus and expects us to do so as well.

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
-- 1 Peter 3:15

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
-- Ephesians 4:16

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
-- Colossians 1:28-29

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
-- John 13:34-35

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
-- John 3:16

“In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
-- Galatians 3:26-28

There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
-- Revelation 7:9-10

“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
-- Revelation 12:10-11

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
-- Ephesians 6:1-3

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
-- 1 Corinthians 3:11

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
-- Acts 1:8

​For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
-- 2 Cor 5:1-...

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​“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.”
-- 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

​Encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. ​
-- 1 Thessalonians 5:11