College Wesleyan Church Sermons
About
Available on
Community
479 episodes
Steve DeNeff - John 20:1-10. Easter is the rise of dawn on the Day of the Lord.
DJ Coleman - Acts 10:1-48. How you see someone determines how you treat someone.
Steve DeNeff - Matthew 26:20-23, 31-35, 69-75. What does God know about you that you don’t know?
Steve DeNeff - Matthew 17:1-8. They looked up and saw no one except Jesus…
Steve DeNeff - Matthew 16:21-27. The way to greatness is from self-importance to self-denial.
Ethan Linder - Matthew 14:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0wio_uylig&t=862s-33. It’s tempting to read the story of Peter in the boat as a simple moral tale: don’t doubt, and God will enable you to participate in a miracle. That’s not good news; has anyone ever manufactured more faith on-command? The Good News is that in this passage, there’s a different invitation, one that helps us journey with the God who loves us enough to come find us in the storm, and then – amidst our unbelief – to walk as Jesus does. This sermon will explore Matthew 14’s fateful night in the boat, and help us learn how we can follow Jesus – walking, sinking, swimming, confessing – into a promise we can put weight on.
Steve DeNeff - Matthew 4:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OplOH8H1YQ&t=258s-22. If at first we “leave … and follow,” everything else comes easier.
Daniel Rife - In a time of plenty, it’s easy to be distracted and avoid addressing the wounds we bear and the brokenness around us. In the season of Lent, we’re invited to step away from the plenty so that we might discern where our hearts truly lie, allowing God to heal our wounds and teach us how to have compassion for the world again.
Steve DeNeff - Luke 10:1-37. A disciple is someone who lives with Christ for the world. Now in the company of the Body, the disciple is prepared to bear collective witness to the city where they belong. What opportunities are there for bearing witness to our community? What is available in the Church? What are other believers doing to make a difference in our city?
Abson Joseph - John 3:16-21; 9:1-12. To long for Jesus and to know him are two aspects of discipleship that rely on our ability to ask and face the right questions. Many people are deconstructing faith and Christian tradition because of their thirst for something more and longing for something new. The church needs to be(come) the kind of community where people adopt the right posture to ask and face courageous questions that lead to a fresh encounter with Christ and a deeper relationship with one another.
Steve DeNeff - Matthew 12:46-50. Throughout the gospel accounts, crowds of people encounter Jesus. Intriguingly, in Mark 10, many of these meetings with the masses are followed by Jesus’s further engagement with only a few—his trusted small group of disciples. What conversations did Jesus save for this more intimate setting and community? And what role can this kind of meeting together play in our own formation as we seek to follow Jesus?
Emily Vermilya - Mark 10:1-34. Throughout the gospel accounts, crowds of people encounter Jesus. Intriguingly, in Mark 10, many of these meetings with the masses are followed by Jesus’s further engagement with only a few—his trusted small group of disciples. What conversations did Jesus save for this more intimate setting and community? And what role can this kind of meeting together play in our own formation as we seek to follow Jesus?
Steve DeNeff - John 1:43 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z98FGFtVZ-w&t=103s-51. For every disciple, the first movement toward change was an encounter with Jesus. It was unforgettable. But it was divisive. Whoever met him was better or worse, but they were never the same. What role can the Church play in orchestrating these encounters? How does worship provide the space and the structure? And what must we do for ourselves?
Steve DeNeff - Isaiah 55:1-3a, 6-7; John 7:37 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GtcUBybcw4&t=457s-43. How many Christians actually enjoy the life that Jesus promised? How many of the “saved” are converted? How many are apprentices of Jesus, learning to do easily and routinely the things that Jesus taught us to do? If we were to get serious about discipleship – the believer and the Church – here are four dimensions of that must be involved.
Vickie Conrad - Luke 2:41-52. Luke is distinctive among the gospel writers for featuring Jesus as a twelve-year-old. This narrative illustrates Mary and Joseph's commitment to nurturing and raising Jesus, evident in their consistent observance of the Passover. The story unfolds with the anguish they experience upon realizing Jesus is missing after a full day of travel. Upon discovering him in the temple conversing with teachers, Jesus responds to their inquiry with characteristic questions. The significance of these questions, both to Mary and Joseph and to us, invites contemplation.
Steve DeNeff - Luke 2:1-7. Throughout the Christmas story, two things are clear: (1) God is in control, and (2) God is not in charge. This is an important lesson for everyone who feels pushed around by others.
Emily Vermilya - Luke 2:1-5 & Micah 5:2-5. One great surprise about God revealed in Jesus at the incarnation is God’s vulnerability. God is not confined to safe or polished spaces. Instead, he enters our mess. He shows up in “places God isn’t supposed to be,” exposing himself and entering our realities, messy as they might be. To this end, we don’t have to leave our own vulnerable states or situations to find God. He meets us there. He joins the struggle with us, making himself vulnerable right alongside us.
Ethan Linder - Luke 3:21-38. When we come to the “list” passages in the Bible, our eyes glaze over: measurements, records, genealogies – maybe these are part of historical record, but wouldn’t the Bible be better if we took them out? That’s probably true…. unless there’s something in the list that is (itself) a story. This sermon will walk through one of those infamous lists, helping us freshly imagine why these (even these!) verses of the Gospels can be truly Good News.
Steve DeNeff - John 1:1-5, 10-14, 16-18. To people living in the first century, the claims of the first Christians concerning the incarnation were scandalous. Here’s a handful that are so outrageous even Christians have a hard time believing them. Yet the gospels want us to practice them as we enter a season, Advent, that is all too familiar to us.
Steve DeNeff - John 4:7-19, 25-30, 39-42. The first evangelist in the gospels is the least likely, least prepared person … and that’s a why she’s the perfect example of what it means to share our faith in a culture that is hostile to evangelism.
Matt LeRoy - Matthew 22:34 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMXwA4zi6io&t=1354s-40, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Leviticus 19:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMXwA4zi6io&t=1158s. In his Great Commandment, Jesus shows his genius and authority by bringing all of the feast and fruit of the Scriptures into one seed, bursting with potential harvest. It is the double pulse of the heartbeat of God. He not only pulls in every command of the past but unleashes and prefigures the future of love.
Steve DeNeff - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-8; 2 Timothy 4:3-5. Toward the beginning of Paul’s career, he wrote a series of letters to young Christians worried about current events, telling them how to conduct themselves in times of chaos and moral confusion. In one of these letters, he contrasted children of the day with those of the night, those who are awake and sober with those who are asleep or drunk. This message is a pastoral word to the Church in our day, tired but awake just before dawn.
Lori Minor & Steve DeNeff - Acts 16:16 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmjAr10b61c&t=976s-34; Philippians 4:4-9. This is a message for anyone whose life has been interrupted by tragedy or injustice and they are suddenly alone, as if in prison. But it’s a message about surviving, about finding God in that dark place, about triumph despite one’s conditions. It’s a message about choices - hard choices - that some make (most don’t) in prison that transform them and become for others a powerful witness.
Emily Vermilya - 2 Corinthians 8:1-9; 9: 6-13. Generosity is typically understood as activity--described by actions of charity or through things we give away. But Paul describes generosity as something deeper: a responsive expression of the gospel itself, a disposition of our souls, and the means by which we allow God's sanctifying work to continue in and through us.
Ethan Linder - Philippians 2:1-11. What does it mean (really) to be humble? Humility is an often-praised virtue throughout the Scriptures; but how do we cultivate it in our everyday lives? And what – despite our best efforts – gets in the way? This sermon will address the shape of humility, and the ways our current habits, attitudes, and practices may choke it out.
Steve DeNeff - Psalm 15; Romans 12:9-10, Ephesians 4:15-16; Philippians 4:8-9. In a culture of high suspicion, the creative minority will practice a rule of integrity.
Steve DeNeff - Isaiah 61:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12; Colossians 3:15-17. Why is nearly everyone you know so overwhelmed?There is a silent scream for simplicity and yet it is more illusive and complex than ever. How do we in the Third Order practice this ancient discipline despite the speed and chaos of our everyday life? And what difference would it make in the workplace if we did?
Steve DeNeff - Psalm 51:1-4, 6, 9-10; Ephesians 4:1-3, 29-5:2. Every Order or Society needs rules for engagement. How do members treat one another, especially those with whom they disagree? How do we make room for different convictions and how do we express them without tearing the Society apart?
Steve DeNeff - Philippians 1:27-2:5. In a culture of individualism, like ours, never underestimate the power of a two or three who gather faithfully around a common rule.
Ethan Linder - Genesis 32:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IleNeAH2cps&t=1942s-32. Christians typically talk about the importance of submitting to God as part of our discipleship. But what about wrestling with God? Not just the cliche, topical-level struggles to believe, but deep conflict with God… what could be the value of that? This sermon will unpack Jacob’s struggle with God, and our own – and discuss how conflict with God–real and brutal –can leave us with a blessing, even as it leaves us with a limp.
