A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” God cares about healthy communities – healthy families, healthy congregations. So much that in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus spends two entire chapters teaching his disciples about love in a healthy Christian community. In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus gives us practical advice about how conflict can become a source of blessing and growth in a Christian community.

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” he life of discipleship costs us everything. “Follow me,” Jesus says, “even to your own cross.” When Peter the apostle places his mind on safety derived from success, he ends up directly opposing Jesus. But the good news is that Jesus doesn’t give up on Peter, but calls him back into discipleship, that is, following behind his Lord once again.

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. This is the essential, foundational, even fundamental proclamation of our faith. Jesus asks each of his followers this question, “Who do you say that I am?” We cannot abstain from answering him. But even as Jesus asks this of us, the love of the Father is already at work in us, pouring into us the unmerited grace that renews our minds and transforms us into his new creation.

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” Dear friends, take courage. Wrestle on! Take courage in your doubting and wondering. Take courage when you are reaching out to God and can’t feel anything, when you are calling to God and hear only silence in return, because wrestling is part of faith. Plainly said, faith hangs in there. And through our wrestling, we are cleansed, we are transformed, we are healed, we are made new.

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” God has called you by name. Your successes are not what make you so beloved, but perhaps it is the other way around. Again and again like Peter, God reaches out to you when you fall. He rushes to you, to catch you when you cry out to him. Your failures do not disqualify you, but rather give you a place to start again, a space for a new beginning.

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” The Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ is a one of a kind event, and it reveals to us the identity, singularity, authority, and mission of Jesus. Only God can accomplish the salvation of the world, and this is what Jesus Christ has done, and he has done this without our help. If, by faith, our hearts behold the King in his glory, perhaps one day too our faces will shine, reflecting and radiating with the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” The kingdom of heaven is how God’s sovereignty is exercised, which is in and through the person of Jesus Christ. The kingdom is rooted in the goodness of Creation. Our response to finding the kingdom is profound joy. The righteous, those who are justified by the righteousness of Jesus, will be welcomed in when the kingdom comes in its fullness.

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” e live in the in-between times. The Evil One has been defeated, but not destroyed. We live in the season of longing for the coming of Christ, the season of suffering, of patience, of wheat and weeds growing together, of waiting on the Lord’s return. Even though it’s the middle of July, we are still in Advent.

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” What kind of soil are you? You’re the kind of soil to whom God is saying, “Here. I have a gift for you. The seed is everywhere. The seed is everywhere, so be ready. I see you. I love you. Be ready to experience fruitful, abundant, kingdom life. Because the farmer is here. And he is including you in his kingdom.”

A message from the series “Sermons during Pentecost.” Without change, without turning toward Jesus, the death that has permeated the world since the Fall of Adam and Eve comes to roost among us, too. Things fall apart. Without rescue, gripped in the power of death, we break, our families break, our environment and our world, they break. It all winds down.