Post Category: Sermon Series

On Sunday mornings at ACC, we are working through the epistle of 1 Corinthians, a book that speaks frequently about the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians, we are told that the Spirit demonstrates power when the message of the cross is proclaimed (2:4); that he "reveals the deep things of God" to believers (2:10); that he dwells in the midst of Christian communities (3:16); t...

On January 12, we plan to begin a sermon series through Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians. Though this letter was written almost two millennia ago to Christians living over 4,800 miles from here, it speaks with amazing clarity to our present cultural moment. Perhaps this is due to the similarities between ancient Corinth and New York City in 2020. Corinth, at the tim...

It's usually left to parents to decide what to call their kids, but when God sent an angel to announce the birth of the Messiah, his parents were denied the right to name their son. Both Joseph and Mary were specifically instructed to name their child "Jesus" (Matt. 1:21, Luke 1:31).Why the name Jesus? Jesus (Yeshuain Hebrew, the same as the name "Joshua") was a common nam...

Four Elements of Genuine Repentance When John the Baptist prepared the people of Israel for the coming of the Messiah, he called them to repent. (Matt. 3:2) As we prepare for the Messiah to come again, we are called to repentance, also. After Christ had ascended to heaven, Peter told the people of Jerusalem, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped o...

We have been studying the Ten Commandments at ACC this fall. The commandments are helpful, not only because they teach us how to live, but because of what they reveal about God. Kevin DeYoung writes: "The law is an expression of the Lawgiver's heart and character. The commandments not only show us what God wants; they show us what God is like. They say something about hi...

From the time we are young, we all know it's wrong to steal. Any three-year-old in daycare will cry out against injustice when another child grabs a toy from their hands. We seem to possess innate knowledge that people shouldn't take things that don't belong to them. So, we might think the 8thCommandment needs little explanation. "Thou shalt not steal" is a pretty clear ru...

Resources for Sexual Wholeness We are preaching on the Ten Commandments at ACC this fall. The 7th commandment says: "You shall not commit adultery." The Bible portrays physical intimacy within the covenant of marriage (between a man and a woman) as God's design for healthy sexuality (Gen. 2:21-25). It describes as immoral any expression of sexual behavior outside of this ...

In our sermons at ACC this fall, we are looking at the Ten Commandments. In prepping to preach on the sixth commandment ("Thou shalt not kill"), I listened to several sermons that other pastors gave on the subject. They were all fine sermons, but some of them sounded more like position papers on public policy than messages delivered to a local church. I write this not to ...

This fall at ACC, we are studying the Ten Commandments. Of all the commandments, you would think the one mandating a Sabbath rest (Ex. 20:8-11) would be easiest to follow. Just think of it God ordered his people to take a day off! This ought to be the most delightful commandment of all. Strangely, however, people often find this commandment difficult to enjoy. Througho...

Like many children, I was afraid of the dark when I was small. I slept better with a light on in the room. Apparently, even some adults find darkness frightening. A 2012 study in the United Kingdom found that almost 40% of the respondents were afraid to walk through their own home without the lights on and that 10% would not even get out of bed to go to the bathroom in t...

In 1 Corinthians 16:1-4, the Apostle Paul addresses a specific financial situation faced by the early churches. Famine and persecution in Jerusalem had resulted in conditions of extreme poverty among the Christians there. Churches in other regions were being asked to send donations to help relieve the suffering of their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. Despite the spec...

The Bible is God's Word the uniquely reliable revelation of his heart, his truth, and his redemptive plan. Augustine of Hippo, the 3rd Century African bishop and theologian, wrote, "The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home." Because the Bible is God's Word, it is vitally important for Christians to develop habits that put them into regular contact with Scripture. ...

In his book, Blessed are the Misfits, Brant Hansen writes about his life growing up in a church where it was constantly stressed that every Christian's job was to evangelize to get out into the world to spread the gospel and how distressing this assignment was for him as an introvert. In other churches, what is stressed is that every Christian's job is to engage in pol...

Cigna health insurance company recently conducted a survey of over 20,000 people in the U.S. age 18 or older. They discovered what we all already knew a lot of people are lonely. The survey revealed that loneliness in our society has become epidemic. According to the research: Almost halfof Americans say they sometimes or always feel alone (46 percent) or excluded (...

Exo 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. Most of us have heard various definitions of sin, such as 'missin...

In Exodus 19, the Israelites arrive at Mt. Sinai. The LORD appears on top of the mountain, and Moses is invited to climb the peak to receive instructions from the LORD. In Exodus 20, God begins to dictate his laws to Moses, starting with a synopsis of God's moral standards, commonly known as the 10 Commandments. Before giving the commandments, the LORD prefaced his law ...

In our weekly sermon series through the book of Exodus, we are in the section of Exodus where the Israelites have left behind their slavery in Egypt and are on their way to the Promised Land. During this phase of their journey, a question the Israelites frequently asked was, "Why are we here?" Why are we trapped between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea? (chapter 14) ...

Imagine a refugee camp in the middle of the desert. The people take down their tents in the morning and ready themselves for the day's hike. The fitter ones have already started down the road. Those less agile the elderly, the disabled, the families with small children lag behind. Suddenly, a war cry fills the air. Armed men on swift camels storm into the camp, killing...

What comes to mind when you think of a rescue? A firefighter rushing into a burning building? A Coast Guard ship aiding a raft of refugees? Perhaps you think of a child nursing a stray animal back to health, or of a woman walking her friend to his first A.A. meeting. Whatever picture comes to mind, rescues are always thrilling. Someone with compassion acts to aid someon...

Joy from God...

On the 2nd Sunday of Advent this year we will be reading Isaiah 40:1-11, a passage that promises peace and comfort to people in distress. Isaiah was a prophet in the southern kingdom of Judah who ministered from approximately 745-695 B.C. In his preaching, Isaiah confronted the people over their sinful rebellion against God, warning them of the painful exile that would re...

It has been said that humans can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, and about eight minutes without air, but that we cannot survive even one second without hope. I disagree with that statement. There are people who have been living without hope for years if you can call that living. When you have no hope, you still get up in the morning, ...

Concern over the opinions of others is one of the strongest human motivators. We crave people's esteem. We fear their disapproval. We long for their acceptance. The desire to be liked and respected is natural, but when it becomes too important it can enslave us. Proverbs 29:25 says, "Fear of man will prove to be a snare." This coming Sunday (November 26), we conclude ou...

The final petition of the Lord's Prayer is, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." The Heidelberg Catechism teaches that, in praying this part of the Lord's Prayer, we are saying, "By ourselves we are too weak to hold our own even for a moment. And our sworn enemies the devil,the world,and our own fleshnever stop attacking us. And so, Lord, uphold us an...

In our current sermon series, we are allowing different psalms from the Bible to show us how to give voice to the various petitions of the Lord's Prayer. The fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer is "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Psalm 32 helps us to pray this petition with depth and authenticity. In his book on the Lord's Prayer, Terry L. Johnson remind...

Jesus taught us, in the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer, to ask the Father for "our daily bread." "Daily bread," of course, is a metaphor for everything we need from the Lord. This includes requests for spiritual growth and piety, but we should never be embarrassed to ask God for physical blessings, as well. In Prayerbook of the Bible, a book on praying the psalms, D...

In our current sermon series, we are learning to pray the psalms through the lens of the Lord's Prayer. The first petition of the Lord's Prayer is "hallowed be Thy name." Psalm 147 is a great psalm for helping us to pray this petition to God. According to the Heidelberg Catechism, when we pray for the hallowing of God's name we are saying: "Help us to truly know you, to h...

In teaching his followers to pray, Jesus instructed us to approach God as "our Father who art in heaven." This shows us that, as we come to God through Christ, we are to approach God in two ways. First, we are to approach God with a sense of confidence. We address God not at our Master, our King, our Ruler, or our Employer. He is our Father. In other words, since we have ...

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