Epiphany Part 2: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About The Magi

Sermon Text:

Matthew 2:1-12

Today we study the mysterious magi. Who were these people and why does Matthew include this story in his gospel? What would the details of this story meant to his audience? More importantly what possible relevance could a group of Zoroastrian astrologers possibly have for us? Along the way we will touch on a lot of history and also a Resurrection Church favorite - numismatics!

Epiphany Part 1: Born of the Holy Spirit

Sermon Text:

Matthew 1-18-25

After giving us a long genealogy about where Jesus came from, Matthew tells us a completely different and contradictory story about where Jesus comes from. Why does Matthew do this. As we learn in this sermon, Matthew loves to mess with us in order to make a point. Today’s sermon explores the importance of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation and why it is absolutely key to the whole gospel of Matthew.

Advent Week 3: Motherhood & New Things

Sermon Text:

Luke 1:39-56

Today’s sermon looks at the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth which is one of the most unusual and incredible scenes in all of Scripture. This time our focus will be less on Mary’s song but what happens when Mary and Elizabeth meet. Particularly the attitude of Elizabeth, the wife of a priest toward her cousin Mary. Here we learn that newness can come into the world and that what is represented by motherhood is the best expression of that hope. Birth and newness are God’s answers to the brokenness of the world.

Advent Week 2: Broken Genealogies

Sermon Text: Matthew 1:1-17

For our second week in Advent, we look at the introduction to Matthew’s gospel. Matthew gives us a genealogy spanning from Abraham to Jesus. The list of names is long and tedious, and so Matthew helpfully divides the genealogy into three sections of 14 generations. However, the last section only has 13 generations even though Matthew tells us there are 14. Did Matthew make a mistake or is the missing generation actually the point? Find out the answer to this question and more as we learn more about the brokenness of the world and how Jesus comes to fix it.

Advent Week 1: Eating Grasshoppers

Sermon Text:

Mark 1:1-8

In this first Sunday in Advent, we look at Mark’s introduction as Mark begins to tell us how Jesus comes to fix a broken world. The idea of fixing a broken world will be the theme for Advent this year as we look at how the world is broken and how it is that Jesus fixes it. In order to do that, we look at some Easter eggs from the Hebrew Bible as Mark sets us for the coming of Jesus in this weird character of John the Baptistizer. As we will soon learn, far from being the weird aesthetic that we imagine with his camel hair shirt and his bizarre diet, John is doing something much more interesting and revolutionary that we miss. Learn how eating grasshoppers and honey does not mean what you have always thought or been taught it means and what this has to say about the vision of a new beginning Mark wants to present to us.