Behold: Gospel

Introduction

Advent is a season of waiting, anticipating, and hoping. It’s a time when we plant our feet firmly in the land between two affirmations: ...

Born to Save

Introduction

What do you need today? There are so many ways we could probably answer that question. Some might say, “I need a vacation. I need a ...

Behold the Lamb of God

Introduction

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Now we flip the page and enter the season on the church calendar known as Advent. Advent is different ...

Waiting for Christmas

Introduction

Isn’t it so hard to wait to open your gifts? I remember when I was around 9 years old, my brother and I wanted an electric race car ...

‘Glory to the Newborn King’

Introduction

I love singing Christmas carols and Christmas songs. Maybe you do too. A couple weeks ago I was at a Christmas party, and we sang a couple ...

‘What Child Is This?’

Introduction

In the year 1865, William Chatterton Dix, who was a businessman in Glasgow, Scotland, suddenly came down with a serious illness. ...

Christmas Presence

Introduction

I invite you take a moment, in this busy season, to just breathe. Be present in this body, in this moment, in this place, with these people. ...

Two Key Women of Christmas

Introduction

(Read Luke 1:39-56)

On several occasions, King Abdullah II of Jordan has disguised himself and mingled with his subjects. He does this to better ...

What Do We Do Now?

Introduction

Fritz Kreisler the world-famous violinist, earned a fortune with his concerts and compositions, but he generously gave most of it away. So, ...

Advent: Hope

Introduction

If you are new to Advent, it’s based on an ancient Latin word. Ad is Latin for “to ”, and vent for “come.” ...

Advent Conspiracy: Give More

Introduction

Every year we celebrate Christmas and for most people it’s a big deal. We decorate our home, send out cards, buy gifts, throw parties, ...

The Gift of Christmas Light

Introduction

In his book Every Good Endeavor, Tim Keller explains the three elements of a story. He points out that a story begins when something knocks ...

A Predictable Christmas

Introduction

It's that time of year that you are either excited, or maybe a bit disappointed. Some of us are excited because, well, there are sales, ...

Skipping Christmas

Introduction

“Always winter, but never Christmas.” That memorable line comes to us from C. S. Lewis’ beloved children’s classic ...

Why the Feeding Trough?

Introduction

How about this for a true story. In 2007 my husband Jonathan and I caught a plane to Australia with Academy-Award winning director George ...

Room Near the Inn

Introduction

We entitled our Christmas series "The Visited Planet." In 1925, Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote a book called The Everlasting Man. ...

The Once Wise Man

A wise man ... A man of knowledge ... An advisor to kings.

These were once words used to describe me. Of course, I had not actively pursued such distinction. ...

Growing in Wisdom

This sermon is part of the “More Than a Holiday” sermon series. See the whole series here.

Introduction

I’m excited to kick off our Advent ...

Christmas Stories: A Dark Story

This sermon is part of the “Christmas Stories” sermon series. See the whole series here.

Introduction

(Read Matthew 2:13-18)

The gun fired and ...

Christmas Stories: A Jesus Story

This sermon is part of the “Christmas Stories” sermon series. See the whole series here.

Introduction

(Read Luke 2:1-20)

How it starts

Listen, ...

Christmas Stories: A War Story

This sermon is part of the “Christmas Stories” sermon series. See the whole series here.

Introduction

(Read Revelation 12:1-6)

Once upon a time ...

Connecting the Dots at Christmas

Introduction

My professor Haddon Robinson from seminary tells a story about a married woman who decided to go on her own private vacation to Europe. She ...

The Gift of the Son: Mighty God

This sermon is part of “The Gift of the Son” sermon series. See the whole series here.

Introduction

For this Advent sermon series leading up ...

The Gift of the Son: Wonderful Counselor

This sermon is part of “The Gift of the Son” sermon series. See the whole series here.

Introduction

The first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning ...

The Son and the Dragon

Introduction

Christmas has always had a dark side. Last year, I caught the opening moments of Christmas in Rockefeller Center, aired live from New York ...

How Can I Enjoy Christmas?

Introduction

Christmas can be so chaotic, can't it? I mean, this whole season can be such a disconnect between what we expect and what we end up experiencing. ...

How Can I Be a Gift at Christmas?

Introduction

As we live in the gap between Christmas expectations and Christmas reality, we end up raising really profound questions about this whole deal ...

Estimating the Value of God's Gift

Introduction

Christmas was an exciting time and Joey was excited too; as excited as any 10-year-old boy could be. For him Christmas was still a time ...

Who Is Jesus?

Introduction

Who is Jesus? So this is the time we celebrate Christ's birth. And we have many traditions to commemorate Christ's birth. But the question ...

More Than a Baby

Introduction

We find in Luke 1 the well-known story of the prophecy of the birth of Jesus that comes to Mary. Most of you could give me the details of ...

Have Yourself a Global Little Christmas

Introduction

[The sermon began with a 30-second clip from the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," performed by Michal Bublé.]

I really ...

A Disgraceful Christmas

Introduction

I want to ask us a question: What words do you associate with Christmas? I did that exercise with myself and this is the list of words that ...

God with Skin

Introduction

I don't know if you saw the story in the CBC News about the data from NASA that was recently published. This data shows that in our galaxy, ...

Oh Christmas Three

Introduction

We have been reflecting on the birth of Jesus, and what we found in this season that we celebrate is that when God chose to enter his own ...

The Forgotten Man of Christmas

Introduction

There was a family which like many of our families has a Nativity set, and each Christmas season they would set that Nativity set up beneath ...

Preparing for the Gift

Introduction

December is a month that raises all kinds of feelings for us. Some really look forward to this time. For others there are things that we dread ...

The Promise of the Ages

Introduction

Our generation has witnessed a new and compelling interest in the study of genealogy. Perhaps this is because every five years more than twenty ...

What Child Is This?

Introduction

I want to wish you a very blessed and Merry Christmas.

We just finished singing "What Child Is This?" and I think it's an appropriate ...

Zechariah's Song

Introduction

Starting last week, this week, and next week, we are taking some time in our preparation for and anticipation of the holiday season to look ...

Simeon's Song

Introduction

I've been reading a gift somebody got for me. It's a fascinating book called Medieval Views of the Cosmos. When I say it's fascinating, ...

The Life Was Made Manifest

Introduction

Christmas is definitely a wonderful time of year. But it's also a bit of a production, right? On average there will be $800 spent for every ...

Later On, We'll Conspire

Introduction

There's something subversive about Christmas. To subvert something is to overthrow it, usually by indirect means. Subversion isn't a frontal ...

When God Came to the BBC

Introduction

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us."

Dorothy Sayers is known ...

God's Favor

Introduction

It is so good to gather on this special Christmas morning and welcome our Lord Jesus Christ into the world to celebrate his birth together. ...

The "Unbelievable" True Story of Christmas

Introduction

One of the ironies of modern history is that the majority of people who celebrate around Christmas have never really heard the real Christmas ...

The Great Polarizer

Introduction

Few events change the lives of a married couple more than the birth of a child. You take a stable relationship of a husband and wife and suddenly ...

Down Lower, Up Higher

Introduction

There was no question he loved her. He was absolutely bedazzled by her. It was surprising, really, because she was quite plain. But ...

The Larger Story of Christmas

Introduction

It's just after ten o'clock on Christmas Eve, which means there are a handful of questions floating around this room: Did I remember ...

The Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Introduction

Today we're going to look at Luke chapter 2. There is a Christmas song tucked within this Christmas story that I want to uncover—a song ...

Recognizing Divine Interruptions

Matthew 1:18-25:

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, ...