Emmaus Road Sermons

Sermon Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17Today, we are picking up where we left off last Sunday in considering God's great, on-going, never-forgotten project in the world, yet we recognize that things are not yet as they should be.Creation, history, our own stories—they're all marked by the fact that we know things are not yet right in our lives or in the world, but we often have no idea how to start putting things to right, so, more often than not, we don't. 

Sermon Scripture: Romans 8:18-25Even now, creation groans — not in despair, but in hope. In Romans 8, Paul reminds us that the earth itself remembers the weight of the fall and the promise of freedom. We, too, remember. Like the Israelites in the wilderness and like Paul on the road to Damascus, we live in the tension between what has been and what is yet to come. This week, we explore the sacred ache of waiting — and the persistent hope that God's redemption is still unfolding, for us and for the world.

Sermon Scripture: Revelation 1:4-8On Easter Sunday we celebrated the decisive battle between life and death being fought and won. Sin and death have been dismantled through the victory of the cross and resurrection. The cross and the empty tomb have marked the turning point in history. And yet—we still see the shadows. Injustice still has its soldiers. Death still shows its teeth. Evil isn't going down without a fight. Yes, Christ has risen! But now what?

Sermon Scripture: John 20:1,11-18, Isaiah 65:17–25Today, we hear the ongoing story of new creation; a new heavens, a new earth, a world where tombs are empty, and tears are wiped away, and death doesn't get the final word.Today, we stand with Mary in the morning damp grass. We listen for our name. And we dare to believe that resurrection is not only for Jesus—but for us. For our lives. For our world. Today, Christ is risen—and everything is being made new.

A dramatic, scriptural retelling of The Passion of the Christ. “Tenebrae” is an old word with Latin roots which means “shadows.” It is given this name to reflect the darkness of Jesus' final hours and his crucifixion.Re-living the final hours of Jesus' life is important. It helps bring into focus the miraculous victory the Father, the Son, and the Spirit enacted through overcoming the cruel cross and defeating the powers of sin and death once and for all.It's also important to realize that the victory enacted in these events are part of Jesus's life and ministry. In other words, Jesus' death on the cross is not disconnected from His life.

Sermon Scripture: John 12:1-8God chose to dwell among us for a purpose; to bring life where once there was death, to bring healing where there was once brokenness, to bring hope where there was once only despair, to bring light into the darkness.This week Jesus reminds us that God is not a distant deity, unmoved by suffering or sorrow, but a suffering servant who walks with us into the ache of the world—and changes everything.

Sermon Scripture: John 12:1-8This week we hear the dramatic story of Mary of Bethany and the anointing of Jesus, and the story of the humble widow with her simple offering of two copper coins. Two women extravagantly worshiping God in two very different ways.As we step into the final days of Lent and enter into the drama of the Passion of Christ in Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter, may we do so with the extravagance shown by these two saints.

Sermon Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21Paul had a divine encounter on the Damascus Road (Acts 9) and nothing was ever the same. It caused him to see himself and others in an entirely different way. He writes, “From now on we regard no one from a human point of view” (2 Cor. 5:16).  Lent is not merely a season of fasting—it is a season of being made new. It is not just about being forgiven—it is about being made new. It is true that forgiveness wipes the slate clean, but what about newness? Newness rewrites the story. Newness re-orients our hearts, re-shapes our desires, and re-trains our eyes to see the world as God sees it. May we be made new!

Sermon Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-9The story of humanity and God tells us that two kingdoms exist in our world; the kingdom of God identified by life, goodness, beauty and love, and the kingdom of the world marked by death, confusion, darkness, and oppression.God is reminding us that the kingdom of the world tempts us with empty wells—things that seem satisfying but ultimately leave us dry—while Christ offers us a kingdom of living streams that quench the thirst of our souls.

Sermon Scripture: Psalm 27Life is full of challenges. We are constantly bombarded on all sides. It's hard to blame ourselves from living in fear and feeling that we have little trust to give — even to God. Afterall, even the faithful know bitter disappointment and crushing pain. Faith is not the absence of doubt or struggle. It is learning to wait, to trust, to cry out, and to keep believing—even when the answers don't come easily.Psalm 27 is a gift for us today. It is a prayer that we can carry with us in honest petition to God in the midst of our messy, awesome, turbulent, smooth, heartbreaking, and joyful lives.

Sermon Scripture: Romans 10:8-13This is the paradox of the kingdom of God: true strength is found in humility. The world tells us that to confess our failures is weakness, that to lower ourselves before another, makes us small. But in Christ, confession is not a loss—it is a gift. Throughout this season of Lent we will be considering how pouring ourselves out to God in worship and confession empties us of false strengths and weak approximations of God's true grace and mercy.We will also be exploring the immeasurable ways in which God has poured himself out for us. Confessing this truth of God's character is the critical second act of our confession of faith.

We have gathered together tonight to observe Ash Wednesday. This day marks the beginning of a season in the Christian calendar known as Lent. The purpose of Lent is to help prepare our hearts for the celebration of resurrection and new life at Easter. It is also a season in which we acknowledge our own mortality–our tendency to wander in the darkness even though we have life and hope in our resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ.Together in these moments together we will worship and reflect and be blessed by our loving God.

Sermon Scripture: Exodus 34:29-35, Luke 9:28-36, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2In the Transfiguration, God has revealed to us, through Jesus, what he is really like. “God is like Jesus. God has always been like Jesus. There has never been a time when God was not like Jesus.We have not always known what God is like—but now we do. (Brian Zhand, Word of Life Church)As Jesus proclaims to us what God is like, he works through our lives, in the Holy Spirit, to then proclaim what God is like to those that we come in touch with. This is the proclamation we make as God transfigures us.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 6:27-36Whether you are a student in school, a young adult navigating friendships and dating, a working professional, a parent of kids, or a wise elder, we are constantly faced with people who get in our way, who block our goals, are mess up our flow, our way of doing things, or perhaps who actively oppose us, threaten us, or harm us. As cliche as it sounds, we are constantly presented with the challenge of loving our enemies.Across time and cultures, the Golden Rule remains a universal moral guide, promoting a more compassionate and just society—but it is not easy. It remains one of the most challenging aspects of our daily lives.

Sermon Scripture: Jeremiah 17:5-10Jeremiah's prophetic words were full of honest naming of the infidelity to God that led to his people's destruction—but his message also was saturated in lovingly poetic promises of God's faithfulness if his people would humble themselves and confess their sin, and return their trust to the Lord.Will we be like the parched thorn bush in the desert sands or the deeply rooted tree by the water's edge, unbothered by the heat nor worried by long months of drought, our leaves evergreen, consistently producing good fruit?The tree and the thirst, this is our invitation today — a life that is not driven by fear but sustained by trust, not restless in vain striving, but rooted in God's deep peace.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 5:1-11, Isaiah 6:1-8God has proclaimed, “Unto us a savior is given,” and Jesus has invited us to come and see, go and tell — “making Christlike disciples in all the earth.” So today, we consider the call of God upon our lives and we find encouragement in God's equipping and guiding us in living the call.

Sermon Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Long after the rest of the world has moved on from the decorations of Christmas, the church remains wrapped in light and greenery because we want to remember, we work to remember — the light has come, and the light of Christ shines brightly through us. As we celebrate Epiphany and Candlemas, and the final Sunday of having our Christmas decorations on display, we consider how our love becomes a flame through which the Holy Spirit shines brightly to all the world.

Sermon Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 What if, in the midst of a culture that celebrates individualism, we are instead called to embrace belonging, humility, and responsibility within the community of faith? The Gospel message suggests that our purpose is to live in openness to others through service, acts of love and kindness, and protecting the most vulnerable among us. At a time when the world shouts, “ME is greater than WE!” Paul's words in 1 Corinthians challenge us to consider that perhaps we've got it backwards—maybe WE is greater than ME.

Sermon Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 God wants to use each and every one of us to accomplish his goodness, and it's going to look different for each one of us. It won't look and feel the same, there is not one best way of being used by God that is better than the others, but God is faithful to use us for his work if we will join in the process. God wants to help you become the perfect version of yourself. This version of you is not only content and healthy, but it brings contentment and health to everyone around you, resulting in others becoming the best version of themselves too.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22, John 1:43-51 The message for the first day of Epiphany was that the light of God has shined upon all humanity. Today, the message on this first Sunday of Epiphany is that accompanying the light of heaven, comes its power, presence, and potency invading our humanly form; our weaknesses, our strengths, our very being. Heaven not only shined upon us, heaven opened right up and descended to dwell within us.

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12 In Epiphany we are reminded that God knows our road — the roads we've travelled so often they become mundane and the roads we have never paid any attention to. Most of us are facing crossroads of many kinds today on this first Sunday of 2025. Jesus may be opening up new ways before you, or he may be causing you to see old worn roads in a new light. Our story is about following Jesus in surprising, beautiful, and sometimes challenging ways.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79 This week we hear the story of Jesus' presentation at the temple, where Simeon and Anna recognize Him as the long-awaited Messiah. Their joyful proclamation reminds us that God is faithful to fulfill His promises, even after years of waiting and longing. As we celebrate Christ's arrival, we are invited to live like Simeon and Anna—devoted, watchful, and ready to declare His light and salvation to the world.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 2:1-20 The truth that we celebrate in Christmas is that the light of the world has come. Jesus Christ, our messiah, our savior is born. This is why candle light is so important at Christmas. These lights proclaim the THE light has come.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79 God chose Mary; 15-years old, poor, and unwed. He chose Elizabeth, a senior in the old folks home, used up, overlooked, too old. And you know what? He chooses you! This anthem for a new age that Mary sings about, this different kind of Kingdom that she envisions, that Jesus comes to demonstrate, it only happens when it is lived out in you. In our contemporary context we need a Christianity formed by the Magnificat. In the American superpower we are typically inclined toward ideologies of success and anthems of strength. But the grace of God does not run uphill toward the pinnacles of success and strength, it rolls downhill toward the low places of humility and trust.

Sermon Scripture: Luke 1:68-79 “Because of the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79) These words spoken by the priest Zechariah at the birth of his son John (the Baptist) profess the goodness and faithfulness of God in keeping the promises given and bringing peace. Yet, the world Zechariah lived in was anything but peaceful. This week, we consider how to be and enact peace.

Sermon Scripture: Psalm 25:1-10 No matter where your heart is today, no matter the unsettled state of our world, the words of Psalm 25's promises fuel our hope.  Advent is a season of longing in the darkness, recognizing our need, clinging to God's promises, and stoking our faithful hope that Christmas dawn is already growing on the horizon.

Sermon Scripture: Daniel 7:13-14, Revelation 1:5-7, John 18:33-37 On Christ the King Sunday, we consider anew, which king and kingdom do we serve. We look to Jesus, crucified and risen, unveiled in his power and mercy, who destroys every false image of earthly power.  May we look to Jesus and thus find the courage to look within our own hearts, renewed and empowered to follow the ways of Jesus and his revolutionary Kingdom in confident trust and hope.

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 13:1-8 Here in our final week of study through the book of Hebrews we see the power of love and hospitality in our care for one another. Learning to live in this way is how we connect ourselves to the miraculous power of God's Kingdom. Through our interactions, each of us become the hands of feet of the Kingdom to others — or perhaps, we find ourselves receiving this divine gift in surprising ways. 

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-3. 12:1-3 Stories of hope are so important for us. They are not only wrapped up in our imaginations as inspiration, but they empower our actual living. We look to those who lived lives marked with great faith as an inspiration in our challenges. We remind ourselves of the hope, of the faith, that carried them on. We acknowledge, lament, and confess their shortcomings, but ultimately we see the hope and faith they carried as fuel for us in our own lives.

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 9:11-14, 19-22 The overall aim of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews is to convince Jewish Christians not to turn away from their new faith back to the Judaism they grew up in. He makes a case that Jesus is better in every way—greater than angels, prophets, Moses, priests who came before him. This week, Hebrews makes its final argument of the supremacy of Jesus, the perfect sacrifice and savior for all humanity.

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 6:9-12 Hebrews is trying to stir up the faltering 1st century Jewish Christians who were ready to give up the game for lost. It's like they were in a match that was tied-up at the end of the period and they saw no way of pulling out the win. Many of them were packing it up and just going home. Leaving the covenant of Jesus behind in favor of the well worn and familiar covenant of the Torah. But Hebrews provides us inspiring encouragement in finishing what we started.

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 5:1-10 Theologian Fulton Sheen said that every priest is essentially a Jacob's ladder—that is to say, someone who connects heaven and earth. Thomas Aquinas asserts simply that the priest is a mediator, a bridge, between human beings and God.  This week we consider Jesus as the ultimate and final high priest.

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 3:1-6 For us, the story of Jesus and all that he taught and demonstrated is familiar and well covered ground. But, for the 1st century Jews, this upstart Jesus and his radical reformation of the Mosaic law was brand new, and depending on how seriously you took him, he was either who he said he was; the Messiah of God, a harmless distracting, or a dangerous heretic.

Sermon Scripture: Hebrews 1:1-4 Hebrews was written from one devout Jewish follower of Christ to others struggling in their faith. A struggle that many of us are accustomed to today. Throughout this series we will dwell on the incomparable glory of the person and work of Jesus Christ; showing his supremacy over angels and prophets, priests, and the old covenant and its temple and its sacrifices — and the new life and vocation Jesus brings to his followers. We will be reminded what real, lived and tested faith looks like, and conclude the week before Thanksgiving by reminding ourselves of the power of Love to change our world. This is the Covenant of Christ and it is worth keeping.

Sermon Scripture: James 5 The book of James suggests that followers of Christ thrive through faithful devotion to God's mercy and grace and a lived life of faith and works, reliance on wisdom to reorient the fickle motivations of our hearts, and to trust God with the providing, protecting, and ordering of our lives. But, we recognize that there is a gap between our common experience and the promised reality of life in Christ. In Chapter 5, James suggests that there are very specific ways that we can faithfully engage in closing that gap in our lives.

Sermon Scripture: James 4 James chapter 4 feels like a set of three disconnected warnings to the early followers of the way of Jesus, but if we take a step back, we can see a common thread running through each. In verses 1-10 James warns against envy and material greed, in verses 11-12 he warns against judging others, and in verses 13-17 he concludes by warning against boastful self-reliance. Each of these conditions are a direct byproduct from a lack of trust in God, and James warns that this lack of trust ruins our ability to live in the freedom and fullness of life that Jesus bought us through victory over sin and death.

Sermon Scripture: James 3 James argues that any pretense of being a follower of Christ that doesn't result in a serious working-over of our speech habits is falling short. How we use language — what we say and how we say it — is a central and vital part of what it means to be truly human. The real work of taming the tongue is not just about habit stacking or self control, it is heart work. Jesus, and now James, make it clear that what comes out of the mouth is a sign of what is really deep in the heart.  So, we once again return to the familiar invitation. Ask and it will be given to you, but what should we be asking for? WISDOM that comes from God. This is the source of re-ordering our heart's desires, then this powerful little tongue may be used for the good it was intended. 

Sermon Scripture: James 2 In James chapter two we are reminded; that God doesn't play favorites with who he welcomes into his family, therefore we shouldn't either, we will be tempted to take our salvation into our own hands in an effort to buy it or manipulate it, when it remains a work of God all along, and that there are no shortcuts to our salvation. It is a matter of belief and action — not one without the other, but a strong balance of both. James is debunking the myth that power and status work as currency in God's kingdom — it doesn't. Mercy and grace are God's currency, and when we receive them and freely share them with others in tangible, specific, or even sacrificial acts of compassion and generosity, we are living as we were created to live.

Sermon Scripture: James 1:17-27 This week we begin to study the book of James. James does not read like one of Paul's letters where he addresses specific problems in one local church, rather this book is a summary of James's sage wisdom for any and every follower of Christ. James's goal isn't to teach new theological information, all we need is found in the teaching of Christ, rather he wants to get in your business and challenge how you live those truths out.

Sermon Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18 We all live at the mercy of certain forces out of our control, some of which leave us frustrated, damaged, or even completely defeated. Christians need to know that: (1) we are part of this struggle and must be able to recognize the forces against us; (2) we are called to stand firm against these forces; and (3) God has equipped us with the ability and tools to successfully resist those forces.

Sermon Scripture: Ephesians 4:25-5:2 This week, as we continue studying the book of Ephesians, we see what appears to be a list of dos and don'ts to guide and shape our behavior, but really what scripture is reminding us is that the whole range of human emotion and experience is God given, but it is so important to use our strengths wisely and well so that they do not become weakness or sin.

Sermon Scripture: Ephesians 2 We are all following a map, but is it the right one? Then, if we discover we are headed in the wrong direction we need help in changing course.  By allowing God to reconstruct our journey, we might finally discover what we have been missing all along — a new way of living and being human that satisfies all that is unsettled in us. This new journey in Christ is what God desired for us to experience all along.

Sermon Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14 As we begin a new four week series walking through the major themes of the book of Ephesians, we see God as the master architect of a beautiful plan bringing life to all humanity and all creation.  God has a plan, this plan comes with promises, and engaging in them inspires our praise.

Sermon Scripture: Mark 3:31-35 There's an ancient proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.” Throughout history, teachers of the way of Jesus have likened apprenticeship with him as a spiritual journey. This long winding journey of becoming a person of love in God is a journey that we were designed to go on together in community. To become an apprentice of Jesus is to become a part of a new family, one that transcends all the lines that divide us, race, class, gender, politics, all of it. You can't follow Jesus alone — not you shouldn't, but you can't.

Sermon Scripture: Mark 2:13-17 Jesus once said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” * He likened sin to a disease and himself to a healer. Trying to go on the spiritual journey of discipleship without healing from sin is like trying to run a marathon with a broken leg — you're not going to get very far, and it's not going to be very fun. A key step in our apprenticeship to Jesus is healing from sin.

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 26:36-39 Jesus once said, in this world, you will face trouble in this life. We carry our history in our body and live our past in our present, sometimes comfortably stowed away below the surface. but, all too often our unhealed emotional pain sabotages our spiritual formation into people of love. So the question for today is, when pain and suffering come knocking on our door, what do we do?

Sermon Scripture: Matthew 11:28-30 If you were to follow Jesus around for a while, you would notice a set of repeating practices. You would see him preach the gospel and heal the sick and cast out demons, and you would also see him keep Sabbath, read scripture and spend time in solitude and prayer.

Sermon Scripture: 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 In most Christian churches, generosity is described as one of the core values of the Christian life. The Bible records Jesus saying these words – “it is better to give than to receive.”    At Emmaus Road, one of our core values is Partnership; we believe “our faith calls us to give our lives away in service to others.” This is often in opposition to the spirit of competition of our age, where, in order to survive and come out on top, we are taught to focus first on ourselves.  How does one develop a spirit of generosity? In today's lectionary passage, Paul describes generosity as the grace of giving.

Sermon Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-7 Life just just happens. We wake up, go about our days, years go by, and one day we realize we've been formed into a particular shape. Then, when we begin to walk the path with Jesus, we realize we are not starting with a blank slate because we've already been deformed, not into the beauty of Christ, but into the ugliness of selfish sin and shame. Therefore, at some level, what Jesus is inviting us into is a life of counter formation. To be formed to be like Jesus will require an intentional, thoughtful, conscious way of life to counteract the many forces that malformed our soul.

Sermon Scripture: Romans 12:1-2 Spiritual formation isn't a Christian thing or even a religious thing; it's a human thing. To be human is to grow, to mature, to adapt over time. Formation is simply the process by which our “spirit,” or inner person, is formed into a particular shape or character. Over a lifetime, we are spiritually formed by a complex alchemy of genetic inheritance, family patterns, childhood wounds, education, habits, decisions, relationships, environments, and more. The problem is, most of our spiritual formation is unintentional. It just happens. And often, we are “conformed to the pattern of this world,” more than “transformed by the renewing of our mind.”

Sermon Scripture: Mark 1:16-20 Everybody is following somebody or something. We have all heard of a life lived following Jesus, but what exactly does that mean? Does it mean we believe in a set of ideas called Christianity, or go to church on Sunday? Does it mean we try really hard to be a good person? How do we follow Jesus in the modern world? What does it look like to follow Jesus today? These are a few of the questions we hope to ponder during this season.