Pastor Rich started a new sermon series, Different Together, with a sermon on how people with differing political views can live together in peace. He touched on four C’s that should mark the way Christians engage in politics: having Character, showing Civility, making Contact with those with different views and being Christ-centered.
Sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way we planned it. In this message, Pastor Rich talks about how even when things aren’t going well, we can hold onto God’s word and his ultimate purposes.
Forgiveness is at the core of Christianity. Christians are called to forgive in all circumstances. In this sermon, Pastor Rich lays out the five M’s of forgiveness: measure, meaning, myths, method and motive.
Spiritual abuse isn’t often talked about in churches. In this sermon, Pastor Rich looks at wounds caused by leaders in the church and how God can heal us from those wounds.
Pastor Rich uses the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to illustrate the tough decisions we have to make as Christians in a secular world. When is it okay to go along with culture and when should Christian’s take a stand? In this message Rich explores the question, “Where do we draw the line?”
Daniel and his friends were in a land that was hostile to God. The Babylonians (and many people in our culture today) believe that we live in a universe that is closed to God or anything beyond the Natural. Pastor Rich compares this worldview to living in a windowless room where we have no direct access to God. In this message, Rich shows that our God is powerful enough to break through that windowless room and give us that direct access to him.
Christians ought to feel uncomfortable in whatever culture they live because they are not merely citizens of their country, but also citizens of the Kingdom of God. In this sermon, Pastor Rich begins a series that explores how Daniel and his friends navigated the secular society of Babylon. From them we can learn how to live successfully in our culture.
Friendship is one of the chief ways that we experience love in this world but study after study has found that intimate friendships in America are on the decline. In this sermon, Pastor Rich speaks of the amazing opportunity we have to experience the love and friendship of God.
It’s fascinating that many of the most popular loves songs are about cheating and unfaithfulness when most people's desire for love is to find someone who they can totally trust. The deepest desire of the human heart is to find someone who will stand by us no matter what we do or what life brings our way. In this sermon, Pastor Rich talks about the faithful love of God.
We often think that love is the opposite of discipline. Many parents struggle to discipline and set boundaries for their children because they think it's too much work or they want their kids to like them. In this sermon, Pastor Rich talks about a much neglected edge of God the Father’s love; his tough love. Our Father in Heaven’s love is not sentimental gush, instead our Father loves his children enough to discipline us.
Many in America grow up with an emotionally or physically absent father. Study after study shows the importance of having a father figure in young people's lives. In this sermon, Pastor Rich talks about our perfect Father that is eager to adopt us as his children.
Every human being on earth desires to find a love that will never give up on them. In this sermon, Pastor Rich talks about our salvation in Jesus and God's persevering love. God our Father will never leave us or forsake us. His love will never give up on us.
People have many different definitions of love, but when Christians define what love is we don’t go to a dictionary, we go to the cross! God revolutionized our understanding of love when he gave his son to die on the cross for our sins. In this sermon, Pastor Rich describes God's shocking love.
In this Easter message Pastor Rich explains why Jesus’ physical, bodily resurrection matters.
Many people think of Christians as somber and boring but the founder of the faith was anything but dull. So many of Jesus' stories involve parties, great banquets and celebrations. In this sermon, Pastor Rich talks about why we should celebrate and have joy.
Why don’t we feel the same compassion that Jesus felt toward people in need? In this sermon, Pastor Rich talks about what causes our hearts to shrink and how we can grow our hearts of compassion.
While we spend tons of time in the United States taking personality tests to make hiring decisions, build teams, and assess our marriage partners, most of us have never seen a character test designed to measure our degree of honesty, morality, or integrity. In this sermon, Pastor Rich talks about how our character is essential for us to live the good life.
We have all been asked the question, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" but how do we find the answer? How do we discover the life God created us to live? In this sermon, Pastor Rich discusses how to understand our identity and calling.
Everyone wants to live the good life! Many try to find itby accumulating wealth or finding fame. Others search for the good life by looking inside themselves to find happiness. In this sermon, Pastor Rich suggests looking to Jesus as our model of the good life.
For many Christians evangelism is an unmentionable word and an uncomfortable subject. In this sermon, Pastor Rich clears up what evangelism should be and how we can engage in sharing the love of Jesus with the world.
A decent way to measure the value of any philosophy or religion is to ask: how do the followers of that philosophy or religion actually live? In this sermon, Pastor Rich discusses the difference that following Jesus should make in a Christians' life.
We live in an uncommitted age where fewer people are marrying, buying houses, or signing cell phone contracts. We like to keep our options open but we have a longing for the type of security and belonging that only come with committed relationships. In this sermon, Pastor Rich discusses the role of the church to create life changing community.
What would cause you to experience utter joy? The type of joy that would make you feel like jumping up and down without inhibition. In this final Advent sermon, Pastor Rich discusses Mary's song and how we can experience joy by remembering what God has done for us, in us, and around us.