Sermons

House Calls

Isaiah: The Story Beneath the Story

What can an ancient word of prophetic challenge speak to a modern world? More than we might imagine--more than we might prefer. But the same voice that issues a stern challenge also offers a stronger hope--and that hope is timeless.

The Highest Good

The Highest Good: a series in the Sermon on the Mount

Some of the most celebrated and debated words Jesus ever spoke are found in His "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7). But how we take them rests squarely on how we understand both what He’s done for us and what He calls from us. Over the coming months we’ll take a patient look at the collection of His sayings that arguably outline “the highest good,” taking note not just of what He said but of why it matters that He’s the one who said them. As we hear His way in the shadow of His work, what in the Sermon feels impossible will soon begin to look beautiful.

You are invited to send your sermon-related questions to

As we study the Sermon on the Mount in our sermon series, we would like to share this 30-day devotional through the season of Lent from Christianity Today called "The Blessed Way".

Click here to access via Christianity Today.

The Highest Good

The Highest Good: a series in the Sermon on the Mount

Some of the most celebrated and debated words Jesus ever spoke are found in His "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7). But how we take them rests squarely on how we understand both what He’s done for us and what He calls from us. Over the coming months we’ll take a patient look at the collection of His sayings that arguably outline “the highest good,” taking note not just of what He said but of why it matters that He’s the one who said them. As we hear His way in the shadow of His work, what in the Sermon feels impossible will soon begin to look beautiful.

You are invited to send your sermon-related questions to

As we study the Sermon on the Mount in our sermon series, we would like to share this 30-day devotional through the season of Lent from Christianity Today called "The Blessed Way".

Click here to access via Christianity Today.

The Highest Good

The Highest Good: a series in the Sermon on the Mount

Some of the most celebrated and debated words Jesus ever spoke are found in His "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7). But how we take them rests squarely on how we understand both what He’s done for us and what He calls from us. Over the coming months we’ll take a patient look at the collection of His sayings that arguably outline “the highest good,” taking note not just of what He said but of why it matters that He’s the one who said them. As we hear His way in the shadow of His work, what in the Sermon feels impossible will soon begin to look beautiful.

You are invited to send your sermon-related questions to

As we study the Sermon on the Mount in our sermon series, we would like to share this 30-day devotional through the season of Lent from Christianity Today called "The Blessed Way".

Click here to access via Christianity Today.

The Highest Good

The Highest Good: a series in the Sermon on the Mount

Some of the most celebrated and debated words Jesus ever spoke are found in His "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7). But how we take them rests squarely on how we understand both what He’s done for us and what He calls from us. Over the coming months we’ll take a patient look at the collection of His sayings that arguably outline “the highest good,” taking note not just of what He said but of why it matters that He’s the one who said them. As we hear His way in the shadow of His work, what in the Sermon feels impossible will soon begin to look beautiful.

You are invited to send your sermon-related questions to

As we study the Sermon on the Mount in our sermon series, we would like to share this 30-day devotional through the season of Lent from Christianity Today called "The Blessed Way".

Click here to access via Christianity Today.

Everyday Faith: A study in the book of James

Every life is in some measure lived by faith--placing our trust, our hope, our aspirations on notions whose full reality we can only see through a glass darkly.  Faith is therefore an everyday thing. What then does it look like to live an everyday faith in Jesus as Lord? The letter from James to a church regarded either with great suspicion or utter indifference offers some assistance.

General Topic

Proverbs, Searching for Wisdom

Adrift in a sea of information--perhaps to a degree like no other time in human history – we’re all looking for a life-raft known as wisdom: that insight into life informed by knowledge of certain facts but whose essence is the application of that knowledge at the right time, in the right manner, and for the right reasons. For our next season of life together, we’ll look to the Proverbs for the wisdom that reaches into the heart of reality and thereby allows us to flourish. We’ll listen to its pithy axioms and vivid images, not as formulas by which all things turn out well, but as proven experience we dare not ignore – and particularly because that experience looks to the Lord as the author of life and the giver of wisdom.

Free, a study in the book of Galatians

“If our inclination to both make, and then fail, New Year’s resolutions proves anything it is this: no matter if we be religious or irreligious, we are all aware of the feeling of being constrained by our innermost selves, and of the longing to be freed from those inner shackles. And almost yearly, until we give up in despair the possibility of the freedom altogether, we believe the key to our freedom is our own sustained resolve. But what if the freedom we seek comes from believing we are the beneficiaries of an entirely free gift? What if that’s the only way to the only freedom worth having? For twenty-five years Grace Mills River has grappled with and grown into believing in the only free gift capable of providing the only true freedom. In this next season of its share life and ministry, we want to consider again just how free is what we’ve received in the gospel—and then imagine how belief in that free gift frees us to act as freely with love as the God who did so to us in His Son. So in this new year of our new season together, we’ll listen to Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia.” - Patrick Lafferty

Galatians Gospel Application

Psalms

A new series in Psalms will begin September 10.

"A central thesis then begins to emerge: man is in his actions and practices, as well as in his fictions, essentially a story-telling animal. He is not essentially, but becomes through his history, a teller of stories that aspire to truth. But the the key question for men is not about their own authorship; I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ’Of what story. . .do I find myself a part?'”

We all believe we’re in some kind of story, some account of history. And we all therefore believe that our task is to understand that story and live in harmony with it. What separates religious from non-religious is that the former believes some deity or power gives shape to the story. What separates Christianity from others is that we believe He entered into that story. And while it is our calling both to understand that story and live out that story, no less important is that we pray through that story--commune, wrestle, implore, and give thanks to the Author. So the series will be an attempt to pray through elements of the story, which will include emphasis on the priorities of Grace’s story.

Special Resource: Psalms Bookmark

*We are encouraging a renewed plan of reading and meditation, beginning with the Psalms. To guide you in reading through the Psalms, we've created a bookmark with a 30-day reading plan. Feel free to download, print, and share.

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