Work(s) in Progress
Sermon Series

Christian friend, you have not arrived. You know it, and I know it. Truth is, neither have I. In fact, we all have a very long way to go. How do we measure our progress?

The book of James was addressed to a scattered people during a time of rising persecution. Full of practical metaphors and imperatives, it was written to exhort, not inform. The problems his readers wrestled with did not boil down to doctrine, but exertion—they had faith, but lacked effort. To James, this was not enough. They had stopped short when they still had so far to go.

What are the implications of being made right with God? How do we make sense of that ever-present tension between being and doing? How do faith and works relate? Work(s) in Progress is a sermon series that taps into the wisdom of James in order to answer these questions—to encourage continued growth in the Christian faith; to work out what God has worked in; to evaluate our progress as we patiently await the Lord’s return.

Series Playlist

Work(s) in Progress
Work(s) in Progress
Listen Up!
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  • Listen Up!

    Listen Up!

    Jul 19, 2020 • 42:41

    By immersing ourselves in the perfect law of God, we place ourselves in the center of the environment in which we were designed to flourish. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James 1:19-27

  • Preferential Treatment

    Preferential Treatment

    Jul 26, 2020 • 39:40

    Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God means refusing to follow the corruption of this world and its pattern of fawning deference to some and callous indifference to others. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James 2:1-13

  • Faith and Works

    Faith and Works

    Aug 2, 2020 • 38:38

    If you really believe in Christ, you will really obey him. And that obedience will always result in good works, which are nothing more or less than your response to all he has done for you. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James 2:14-26

  • How to be Perfect

    How to be Perfect

    Aug 9, 2020 • 38:33

    James lays out our strategy to being perfect…by controlling our tongue! This goes far beyond not saying bad words or not engaging in certain activities, but flows from a heart that loves what is good and holy and hates wheat is evil. Speaker: Aaron Meservey Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James…

  • Grace for the Humble

    Grace for the Humble

    Aug 16, 2020 • 36:55

    When our attitudes and actions reveal an adulterous unfaithfulness to God that risks placing us outside the scope of his grace, we must humble ourselves and come back into the joy and security of intimacy with him. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Work(s) in Progress Scripture: James 4:7-10

  • Patient Endurance

    Patient Endurance

    Aug 23, 2020 • 48:30

    When God wrote the script from before all time, he had a goal in mind for it all: To create for himself a people that look like his Son. So take courage. Strengthen your hearts. May no complaining be found on your lips. For he will do something about injustice…

  • Prayer in All Things

    Prayer in All Things

    Aug 30, 2020 • 46:36

    We live in a time of great hardship and collective waywardness–a time where there is much to be thankful for, but also much to be concerned about–when trials and temptations abound and people of faith are wandering from commitment to the truth of God’s word. Let us be faithful in…

Safe Harbors
Sermon Series

“‘Lord, help!’ they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor!” — Psalm 107:28-30 (NLT)

Life is full of storms. Atmospheric disturbances that disrupt our lives and entangle us in tumult and hardship. In many, we fall victim to forces beyond our control. In others, we risk capsizing under the consequences of our own decisions. In all, God can be found, offering the safe harbors of his presence and peace.

You and I are in the midst of a “stormy” season. But the Lord is a refuge amidst the tempest! He commands the gales into stillness. He marches resolutely atop the breakers. He sovereignly incorporates the storms into his good and perfect plans. For all who cry for help, he saves them from their distress. Maybe he will calm the storm around us. But more likely he will calm the storm within us. And he will keep us and hold us fast through it all.

Safe Harbors is a sermon series offering hope in the midst of the storm.

Series Playlist

Safe Harbors
Safe Harbors
The Haven of Salvation
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  • The Haven of Salvation

    The Haven of Salvation

    Jun 14, 2020 • 37:18

    The people of God remember the great things the Lord has done, look to Jesus for help in every time of trouble, and praise him before one another and throughout all the world in both word and deed. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Safe Harbors Scripture: Psalm 107

  • The Port of His Peace

    The Port of His Peace

    Jun 21, 2020 • 46:49

    The sleeping man in the back of the boat is the only one capable of calming our storms and bringing peace to our lives. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Safe Harbors Scripture: Mark 4:35-41

  • The Palisade of His Presence

    The Palisade of His Presence

    Jun 28, 2020 • 39:01

    The God who feeds his people and stills the storms and walks on water and steps into our troubles still watches over and offers himself to you today. Note: We apologize for the poor audio quality. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Safe Harbors Scripture: Mark 6:45-52

  • The Mooring of Faith

    The Mooring of Faith

    Jul 5, 2020 • 33:14

    God uses the troubles and hardships of life to perfect our hearts. Burning away the dross. Strengthening and purifying our faith like gold. Remaking us from the inside out with the stuff that does not sink, but rises and overcomes to the very end. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Safe Harbors Scripture:…

Almost Good News
Sermon Series

We are hounded by bad news all the time and its effects are obvious: anger, anxiety, and fear dominate many lives on a steady diet of bad news.

While a diet of bad news is a problem, perhaps a more insidious problem facing the church is the undermining of our proclamation of good news. We have been charged to spread the greatest of all news—the salvation brought through the works of Jesus, yet in many of our minds this news has been twisted into something that’s not really gospel at all. It’s almost good news and produces almost Christians.

In this series, we are going to explore subtle mistruths about the gospel that seem so close to the truth but set us on a trajectory away from God.

Series Playlist

Almost Good News
Almost Good News
Not Quite Good Enough
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  • Not Quite Good Enough

    Not Quite Good Enough

    Apr 19, 2020 • 38:52

    As people, we are seriously flawed. In many ways we reject truth, do evil, and worship wrongly. While this is bad news, it also reassures us that if God will save, it won’t be on the basis of our moral merit. The lowest of sinners and greatest of saints all…

  • Having an Advantage but Not Better Off

    Having an Advantage but Not Better Off

    Apr 26, 2020 • 40:46

    God has a solution to the problem of sin.

  • On Thin Ice

    On Thin Ice

    May 3, 2020 • 25:52

    We often believe that while we may be forgiven by grace through faith, we enter the Kingdom on thin ice. When we behave well, we think God must like us, but when we blow it, we feel God must dislike us. We are encouraged then to allow our sin to…

  • Invictus

    Invictus

    May 10, 2020 • 31:14

    Since we are made right in God’s sight by faith, we may wonder if the gospel changes us at all. As we read in Romans, we see the nature of faith going beyond mental assent to facts to identification and allegiance to Jesus. This changes our core selves so we…

  • Life in the Spirit

    Life in the Spirit

    May 17, 2020 • 32:26

    The Gospel of grace does not leave us under the power of sin but ushers God’s people into a life in the Spirit, marked by power and victory over sin. We are then encouraged to pursue holiness and hate sin, through the Spirit’s power. Speaker: Aaron Meservey Series: Almost Good News…

  • How the Gospel Transforms Community

    How the Gospel Transforms Community

    May 24, 2020 • 31:26

    We are not meant to live an exaggerated form of Christian individualism – a “Jesus-and-me” mentality. God did not call us into salvation in isolation but in community. Romans 12:3-18 shows us that as Christians, we are called to live out our faith in a Gospel community of service and…

The Meaning of the Cross
Sermon Series

“The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” — I Corinthians 1:18

You see them everywhere you go. Adorning the tops of steeples; dangling from bracelets, necklaces, and earrings; in clusters of three alongside the interstate—the Christian cross is as recognizable as it is ubiquitous. But what does it mean?

In a time such as ours where “truth” is divorced from facts and consigned to the whims of an individual or moment, there seem to be as many descriptions of the cross’ meaning as there are people who offer them. From the average Joe to the Hollywood elite, everyone has an opinion of what the cross means to them. For the Christian, however, neither the meaning nor importance of the cross find their origin in the opinions of the individual, but in the heart of God himself.

“The Meaning of the Cross” is a series of sermons for the 2020 Lenten season that dive into what the cross really means. Why was it important to Jesus? What does it say about the nature of God or his purposes for all time? Was the cross really necessary, and, if so, why?

If you seek to know the answers to these questions by drawing upon the wisdom of the world, this series of sermons is not for you. But if you seek to understand the world based upon the answers to these questions, then join us for the six Sundays leading up to Easter and discover why the cross is not only central to history and theology, but to all reality.

Series Playlist

The Meaning of the Cross
The Meaning of the Cross
The Foolishness of the Cross
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  • The Foolishness of the Cross

    The Foolishness of the Cross

    Mar 1, 2020 • 34:04

    God has made Christ to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So come to him boldly, but on bended knee. Humble yourself before the Lord and the foolishness of his cross, that you may enter his presence in repentance and faith. The message of the cross beckons us to seek…

  • The Centrality of the Cross

    The Centrality of the Cross

    Mar 8, 2020 • 41:32

    Why do Christians cling to the “old rugged cross”? Because it was central to the very mind and mission of Jesus himself. He was not a helpless victim, but an all-powerful, self-giving savior who freely determined to do his Father’s whole will for his life, no matter the cost. Speaker:…

  • The Necessity of the Cross

    The Necessity of the Cross

    Mar 15, 2020 • 38:10

    The cross demands we hold fast to the biblical revelation of the living God who is disgusted and angered by evil, but it convinces us that his merciful search for a way to forgive, cleanse, and accept evildoers would come in a way that is equally expressive of every dimension…

  • The Scandal of the Cross

    The Scandal of the Cross

    Mar 22, 2020 • 35:37

    You and I as sinners are co-conspirators with the persons responsible for handing Jesus over to die. Though our sin sent him to the cross, it was also his love that took him to the cross. We must see the cross as both something done by us and something done…

  • The Certainty of the Cross

    The Certainty of the Cross

    Mar 29, 2020 • 46:04

    God is holy love, who poured out his love on us through the pouring out of his wrath upon himself. Because of the cross, we can be certain that when the day of judgement comes and all that is opposed to him is condemned we will certainly be saved through…

  • The Celebration of the Cross

    The Celebration of the Cross

    Apr 5, 2020 • 35:49

    If you have given your life to Jesus, he has freed you from all sin. Make every effort, therefore, by the inner working of his Spirit’s power, to remove the “yeast” from your heart, that you might fully enter into the joy and celebration of the Passover feast. Speaker: Sean…

  • Living Hope

    Living Hope

    Apr 12, 2020 • 53:27

    Because of Christ, who rose victoriously from the grave, Christians have a living hope that is more real, true, and glorious than anything the world has to offer. No matter how difficult this life can be, God’s power is greater and he will hold us fast. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: The…

God’s Economy
Sermon Series

In the beginning, God had a plan—a plan to create what did not already exist and fill it with his glory. Central to the divine enterprise were people created to look and act like God. They were to be managers of his property, administrators of his purposes, and inheritors of his portion. As such, their lives would only be fruitful and fulfilling when ordered rightly.

But in its first generation, all of mankind’s relationships became wrecked. Friends became enemies. Work became toil. Order was displaced by disorder and paradise was lost.

God’s Economy is a sermon series on biblical stewardship that explores how life works best according to God’s design. It endeavors to recast a vision of life as rightly related to God, creation, and other people, and illuminates how a rightly ordered heart views time, talents, and treasures from an eternal perspective.

God’s purposes have not been arrested nor suspended. He is still sovereign; he is still in control; he still has purposes toward which his providence is directed. What remains is whether we will be willing participants with him by bringing all of life into submission under his gracious rule and acknowledging that we are not our own but belong to Christ, who gave himself up for us.

Series Playlist

God's Economy
God's Economy
Ordered Relationships
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  • Ordered Relationships

    Ordered Relationships

    Jan 12, 2020 • 40:17

    Biblical stewardship teaches us that whether it is what God entrusts to us, or withholds from us, in all things he desires that we might come to know him, enjoy him, and entrust all of our lives to him. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: God’s Economy Scripture: Genesis 1:26-31

  • Ordered Affections

    Ordered Affections

    Jan 19, 2020 • 34:24

    The design of God for humanity—the very purpose of our existence and how we share, enjoy, and multiply his goodness in the world—can be found in the command to love God with all that we are. This is the aim of his grace through Christ in the Spirit: To reorder…

  • Ordered Commodities

    Ordered Commodities

    Jan 26, 2020 • 46:11

    God has created us for right relationships: with himself and with others. He has designed our hearts to be restless until they find their rest in him. Therefore, we must use every resource and opportunity we have in this life to bring us into a fellowship that will last forever.…

  • Ordered Work

    Ordered Work

    Feb 2, 2020 • 46:19

    The church, as the embodiment of God’s life and work in the world, is to be both enjoyed and shared. Each member has a part to play in joining God in his worldwide redemptive movement. Will we faithfully do that which God himself has assigned us to do? Speaker: Sean…

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