Sermons Audio - St. John the Divine

After Easter, the story doesn't end—it begins. This sermon explores how the risen Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, transforms ordinary people into bold witnesses. From Peter's fear to courage, we are reminded that the Gospel is not meant to be kept private but shared, as God sends each of us into the world to live and proclaim His love.

After the resurrection, the disciples moved from fear to bold faith—but one question remains: will we respond like Barabbas or like Thomas? This sermon explores the call of Easter to move beyond doubt into belief, and beyond belief into mission. As those who have not seen and yet believe, we are invited to follow Jesus with lives of faith, obedience, and joyful service in the world.

Life is a journey filled with twists, challenges, and unexpected turns—but Easter reminds us that we don't walk it alone. In this sermon, we explore the story of the empty tomb and the call to step out in faith, leaving behind the “tombs” of our past and moving toward the future God has prepared. As we take those steps, we discover the risen Jesus walking with us, bringing healing, transformation, and new life.

Easter is not just that Jesus rose from the dead—it is that the crucified Christ is alive. Through the story of Barabbas, this sermon explores the powerful exchange at the heart of the Gospel: our guilt placed on Jesus, and His life given to us. The resurrection calls us not to stand at a distance, but to move forward in faith, trusting the risen Lord who goes before us and invites us into new life.

If you could design a Messiah, would you ever choose a humble carpenter, surrounded by ordinary people, destined for a cross? The story of Jesus defies every human expectation—and that's exactly why it reveals the heart of God. This sermon explores the shocking, beautiful truth of the Gospel: that Christ came as both priest and sacrifice, giving His life in love to reconcile us to God and bring us new life through His resurrection.

What does Palm Sunday really mean? As crowds cried “Hosanna” and waved palm branches, they were hoping for a political savior—but Jesus came to bring something far greater. This sermon explores how Christ is not always what we want, but exactly what we need, inviting us to follow Him not around the cross, but through it, into true salvation and life.

“Lord, if you had been here…” In the story of Lazarus, Mary and Martha give voice to a question we all carry in moments of loss, grief, and unanswered prayer: Where was God? This sermon explores the tension between faith and sorrow, reminding us that even when we cannot see the full picture, we can see Jesus—who enters into our grief, weeps with us, and brings the hope of resurrection and new life.

What does it mean to truly belong? In the Gospel of John, we see Jesus encounter people who feel like outsiders—the religious seeker Nicodemus, the rejected woman at the well, and a man born blind who is cast out by his community. Yet each one finds a place with Jesus. This sermon explores how Christ opens our eyes, welcomes the outcast, and invites us all to belong to Him and walk as children of the light.

Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well is the longest recorded conversation in the Gospels—and one filled with compassion, truth, and hope. In this sermon, we explore how Jesus meets people exactly where they are, offering the “living water” that truly satisfies our deepest thirst. No past is beyond His grace, and no life is beyond His reach.

Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well reveals a deep truth about the human heart: we all carry a thirst that the things of this world cannot satisfy. In this sermon, we explore how Jesus meets people in their brokenness and offers something far greater than temporary fulfillment—the living water of eternal life. Through His sacrifice on the cross, Christ pours out the life that alone can fill the deepest longing of our souls.

What if the new life you're longing for isn't about starting over physically—but being born again spiritually? In this message from our Encountering Jesus series, we look at Jesus' nighttime conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. Discover what it truly means to be “born again,” how God breaks the power of our past, and why new life begins with two simple steps: believe and receive. No matter your baggage, your history, or your doubts—God's love is deeper, and His Spirit makes all things new.

In this Lenten sermon on Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus, we reflect on what it means to seek God in the dark. When certainty fades and questions rise, Christ meets us not with quick answers, but with an invitation to new life. This message explores spiritual rebirth, surrender, and learning to trust the movement of the Holy Spirit. Faith is not about mastering explanations—it is about being loved into life again and again. A gentle call to honest prayer, deeper trust, and walking in the light of God's love.

This Lenten sermon explores Jesus' temptation in the wilderness and the deeper truth of spiritual warfare, identity, and the battle between two kingdoms. The good news: we don't fight alone. In Christ's victory—through Scripture, prayer, and Christian community—we stand secure.

What is temptation? This Lenten sermon explores how temptation isn't just about doing wrong—it's often about being enticed to avoid doing what is right. Looking at Jesus' time in the wilderness, we see that the real battle is for our desires. Will we be ruled by fear, or led by the Holy Spirit? When fear governs us, our desires turn inward. But when the Spirit leads us, our lives are shaped by trust, sacrifice, and love.

Have you ever longed for a mountaintop experience with God—something undeniable, radiant, and life-changing? Reflecting on the Transfiguration, this sermon explores the tension between glory and suffering, reminding us that Christ does not remain on the mountain. He descends into our ordinary lives—into our burdens, our obedience, and even our pain—revealing that the true glory of God is found not apart from the cross, but through it.

How does the Christian faith shine in a divided and uncertain world? This sermon reflects on Jesus' call to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, inviting the Church to embody a visible, compelling hope. When lives and communities are transformed by Christ, the gospel is no longer just heard—it is seen.

Why choose Jesus over other spiritual teachers? This sermon explores what makes Jesus uniquely compelling, focusing on the Beatitudes and their radical promise: God's blessing meets us not after suffering ends, but right in the middle of it. In a world full of pain, Jesus offers a faith rooted in compassion, presence, and hope—and calls us to become a blessing to others.

What does it really mean to live the Beatitudes? This sermon explores how Jesus calls his followers to examine themselves—not judge others. We're invited to consider how waiting on the Lord, rather than throwing our weight around, can transform our lives and our culture through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In this sermon, we return to the shores of the Sea of Galilee to hear Jesus' first call to his disciples: “Follow me.” What begins in a place of darkness and obscurity becomes the dawn of God's great light for the world. Reflecting on Peter, Andrew, James, and John, we explore how following Jesus is not simply a change of roles or beliefs, but a total reorientation of our lives and loves. This message invites us to consider where Christ is calling us today, what nets we are being asked to drop, and how we are sent to embody a different story for the sake of the world.

What are you really seeking? In this sermon from John's Gospel, we explore Jesus' first recorded words—“What are you looking for?”—and what they reveal about discipleship, doubt, and relationship with God. Through a personal story, reflections on modern skepticism, and insights into the invitation to “come and see,” this message reminds us that following Jesus is not primarily about having all the answers, but about abiding with Him. Whether you come with faith, questions, or curiosity, Jesus meets you where you are and invites you into a life-giving relationship.

Why do we seek Jesus? Out of curiosity, longing, habit, hope, or something we can't quite name? In this sermon from the Gospel of John, we reflect on Jesus' first words to his earliest disciples: “What are you seeking?” Rather than demanding clarity or pure motives, Jesus turns toward us, meets us in our mixed desires, and invites us into relationship with a simple call: “Come and see.” This message explores God's initiative in seeking us first, the grace that meets us before we understand it, and the invitation not merely to observe Jesus from a distance, but to abide with him and discover where God is already at work in our lives.

If God is loving and Jesus is truly God, why is there so much suffering? In this sermon from The Skeptic's Guide to a Jewish Rabbi, we approach this painful question by looking at Jesus' baptism, where he steps into the water alongside a suffering people and identifies fully with our broken world. Rather than offering easy answers, this message reflects on a God who meets us in solidarity, bears our pain in love, and shows us that suffering does not have the final word. This sermon is for anyone who carries questions, grief, or longing and wonders where God is in the midst of it all.

Baptism is not the end of the journey or a moment of instant transformation. It is a turning point—a beginning. It marks a before and an after, grounding us in God's unchanging love while calling us into a lifelong process of following Christ. As we witness baptisms today and renew our own baptismal covenant, we are reminded that faith is lived out in community, supported by the church, and shaped by daily choices to turn toward Christ and away from evil.

Who is Jesus—really?Is he just a first-century Jewish rabbi, or something more? In this opening sermon of A Skeptic's Guide to a Jewish Rabbi, we ask the most basic and most challenging question of the Christian faith. Drawing on history, eyewitness testimony, and the Gospel of Matthew, this sermon explores why the biblical accounts of Jesus are trustworthy, what counts as “good enough evidence,” and how different people respond when they encounter it. Whether you're curious, skeptical, or seeking deeper faith, your questions are welcome here.

The Christmas story does not end at the manger. In this sermon, we revisit the story of the Magi and ask what it means to follow the light of Christ after Christmas has passed. The wise men were seekers, scholars, and outsiders who recognized something worth pursuing and were changed by the journey. When they encountered Jesus, they did not return home the same way they came.This sermon invites us to consider which stars we are following, what roads we are walking, and whether Christ is calling us onto a new path in the year ahead.

In this sermon on the Prologue of John's Gospel, we explore how God's light enters human darkness not as an abstract idea, but as a living presence. Through stories of discovery, revelation, and grace, we're invited to see Christmas as more than a memory of Jesus' birth. It becomes the possibility of new life, new meaning, and the awakening of the soul.This is the good news of Christmas: God comes to us where we are, opening our eyes to a reality far larger than we imagined.

In this sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas, we turn to the opening of John's Gospel and hear the bold claim at the heart of the Christian faith: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Drawing on story, film, and lived experience, this sermon explores how Christ is the light that shines in the darkness, a light the darkness cannot overcome.Jesus comes not just to illuminate the world, but to dwell with us, remake us, and fill us with grace and truth so that we might carry that light into a weary world.

As the final sermon in our Singing While We Wait series, this message turns to Psalm 80 and the practice of singing songs of love when life feels unlovable. Drawing on the language of lament, we are invited into honest prayer marked by vulnerability, trust, and bold petitions before God. Even in seasons of sorrow and silence, this sermon reminds us that deeper transparency leads to deeper revelation, and that God meets us with love precisely in the places we most long to be restored.

When Joseph faces an impossible choice, God meets him not with easy answers but with awe. This sermon explores Joseph as a quiet model of justice, compassion, and courage—someone who learns to see the divine at work in ordinary, vulnerable circumstances. As we reflect on angels, dreams, and the people who help us carry Christ's light, we are invited to ask where we need support and where we are being called to be a Joseph for others in a world longing for hope.

What happens when the path you thought you were following leads you into a dark wood instead? Drawing on Dante, John the Baptist's doubt in prison, and Mary's quiet faith, this sermon explores spiritual discouragement, waiting, and the surprising places where God meets us. If you've ever asked, “Are you really the one?” this Advent message offers hope, honesty, and an invitation to trust that Christ comes even to us there.

What does true greatness look like in the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus' answer may surprise us. In this sermon, we encounter John the Baptist at his lowest moment and hear Jesus call him the greatest who has ever lived. From prison cells to ordinary lives that seem to be going just fine, Jesus radically redefines greatness as something that transcends circumstances and upends the values of the world.True greatness, we learn, is not found in status, success, or recognition, but in becoming least, giving freely, and following the self-emptying way of Christ.

In Week 2 of our Advent series "Singing While We Wait," we turn to Isaiah 11 to hear a song of peace. This sermon explores how God meets us in the messes we've made, not with abandonment or punishment, but with presence. Even when peace feels lost and circumstances feel broken, God promises Emmanuel, God with us. As we wait, we are invited to sing a song that celebrates Christ's presence in the middle of our mess and trusts that God is still at work bringing life, hope, and restoration.

On the Second Sunday of Advent, we meet John the Baptist, the wild, unsettling prophet who refuses to let us sleepwalk toward Christmas. His message is not cozy or sentimental, but urgent and clarifying: God is coming, and everything hinges on whether we are awake and ready.This sermon explores why John the Baptist stands at the threshold of Advent as the essential bridge between promise and fulfillment. Through Scripture, story, and a surprising literary analogy, we are invited to examine the difference between dutiful religion and wholehearted devotion.Advent is not about polite waiting or cautious faith. It is a call to repentance, attention, and courage. John points beyond himself to Jesus, the Lamb of God who comes, who will come again, and who calls us to go all in.Wake up. Prepare the way.

In this first week of our Advent series “Singing While We Wait,” we explore one of the most universal human experiences: waiting.Waiting can be mundane, exciting, painful, or full of longing. The Bible is filled with people who waited—Noah in the ark, Abraham and Sarah for a child, Israel for deliverance. And just like them, we often find ourselves waiting for God to move, heal, answer, or renew.This sermon invites us to recover that same holy rhythm through the first Advent song: a song of hope. Hope rooted not in wishful thinking, but in remembering God's faithfulness yesterday so we can trust His faithfulness tomorrow.If you're carrying anxiety, longing, or unanswered prayers, this message offers a way forward:sing while you wait—because God is working even now.

This Advent, we begin the Christian year not with shepherds or angels, but with Jesus' own urgent call: Be ready. With wisdom, humor, and pastoral directness, Bishop Josiah urges us toward the heart of Advent: Semper Paratus, always be prepared. Not for fear, but for faith. Not for speculation, but for trust. Not for passivity, but for the mission Jesus gave us: go into all the world and proclaim the gospel.A timely and stirring reminder as we enter the season of expectation:Are you ready?

On the 100th anniversary of Christ the King Sunday, Reagan explores what it really means for Jesus to reign. Not through power or domination, but through the cross, self-giving love, and a kingdom shaped by sacrifice. The question for us: Is Jesus truly first in our lives?

Many young people today are not just asking whether God is real. They are asking whether God is good. On Christ the King Sunday, this sermon turns to the cross to answer that question with clarity and hope.Jesus reveals a kingdom unlike any earthly power. He does not rule through force or domination. He takes on the weight of sin, suffering, and death itself to bring healing and new life to the world. At the place of the skull, when everything seems lost, God shows his true heart.This message invites us to look at Jesus and see the God who created all things, who holds all things together, and who draws near to our pain with redeeming love. Christ is our Savior. Christ is our King.

Reagan reflects on a recent trip through Asia where he witnessed a growing hunger for prayer and a longing for a God who truly knows His people.He reflects on global hunger for prayer, the witness of persecuted Christians, and Paul's charge to Timothy, he invites us to rediscover Scripture as the place where we hear God's voice, receive His unconditional love, and learn to love others in the same way.This is an encouragement to return to the Bible, not as an obligation, but as a relationship. God still speaks through His Word and fills us with His Spirit so that we may live lives shaped by grace rather than by conditional love.

In this sermon on Luke 21, Leigh reflects on a missed moment in a New York taxi and how Jesus prepares His followers for times of pressure. The temple's purpose is fulfilled in Christ, and every believer, from the early martyrs to ordinary Christians today, is called to pay attention to the moments when the Holy Spirit prompts us to speak.These “micro-amphitheaters” show up in everyday life: a comment at a bridge table, a joke on the golf course, a choice at home or at work. Jesus promises that when those moments come, the Spirit will give us what we need. Our part is to live each day rooted in grace so that bearing witness becomes second nature.

This sermon wrestles with a tender question from Luke 20: will we still be with our spouses in heaven? Jesus' answer points beyond marriage to something even greater. Marriage is a good gift for this age, given for mutual joy and comfort in a world of sorrow. In the age to come, every need that marriage meets is fulfilled perfectly in the risen Jesus.We are first and foremost children of the resurrection. All good things find their proper place under Christ, who is our ultimate good and our lasting joy. Come be encouraged to love your spouse, your family, and your calling with gratitude, while centering your life on Jesus who is all in all.

When Jesus is confronted by the Sadducees about the resurrection, His answer is more than a clever response. It is a revelation of who God is. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. His covenant promises do not end at death. They are fulfilled and deepened through the resurrection.In this sermon, The Rev. Trent Pettit explores what it means that God draws life from death and that His faithfulness outlasts ours. Resurrection is not an escape from creation but God's commitment to redeem it. This is the hope that frees us to live patiently, humbly, and joyfully in Christ, here and now.

On All Saints Sunday, we remember the great heroes of the faith who continue to inspire us to believe and live for Christ. But this day also calls us to reflect on our own faith.What would it take for our lives to inspire others in the same way? In this message, we are invited to live an “All Saints” kind of faith: to know Jesus deeply, to love Him fully, and to follow Him faithfully, not as the hero of our own story but as part of God's great story of redemption.

On All Saints Sunday, Bishop Jeff W. Fisher reminds us of a simple but life-changing truth: God doesn't discriminate between sinners and saints.Through the waters of baptism, we are marked as Christ's own forever, forgiven, loved, and called to new life in Him. Drawing from his own story at St. John the Divine, Bishop Fisher reflects on the gift of grace, the power of community, and the love that unites all the saints, both past and present.Join us as we give thanks for our baptism, for God's unearned love, and for the saints who have shown us what that love looks like in action.

In the final message of our Letters to a Young Christian series, The Rev. Dr. R. Leigh Spruill reflects on Paul's final words to Timothy and the calling to carry the faith forward. Like runners in a relay, we are entrusted with the gospel not to hold it, but to pass it on.Drawing from 2 Timothy 4, this sermon challenges us to live with purpose, to love deeply, and to invest the grace we've received into others. Faith is not about success—it's about succession. The question is: who are you passing the baton to?

In this sermon, The Rev. Trent Pettit reflects on Psalm 65 and the deeper meaning of gratitude. Thanksgiving is more than good manners; it is how we recognize that everything we have and everything we are comes from God.Our gifts, our worship, and even our very lives are acts of praise and offerings that join us to God's own self-giving in Christ. Through this lens, the tithe becomes not a transaction but a transformation: a way of giving ourselves to God's ongoing work of redemption, healing, and hope in the world.Join us as we remember that we are not self-made but grace-made, drawn into God's song of love for all creation.

What is truth? In a world of noise, distraction, and deception, God calls us to discern what's real through His Word. In this message from Letters to a Young Christian, we look at Paul's teaching to Timothy about recognizing lies, guarding our hearts, and anchoring ourselves in Scripture, the only foundation that will never fail.Part 5 of our series, “Letters to a Young Christian.”

When Jesus tells the story of the persistent widow and the unjust judge, he's not comparing God to a bad judge. He's showing us how much greater God's love and faithfulness are. In this sermon, we're reminded that prayer isn't about wearing God down but about being drawn close to the One who never gives up on us.

Memory is one of God's greatest gifts. In this week's message, we look at Paul's words to Timothy and the power of remembering. We remember God's faithfulness, the people who shaped our faith, and the truth that even when life feels confining, the Word of God is never bound. No matter what we face, God's presence and promise of freedom remain unshaken.

We're constantly surrounded by messages about what the “good life” should look like — more money, more success, more stuff. But in 1 Timothy 6:6–19, Paul offers a radically different vision. In this week's sermon, we explore how the good life isn't about wealth or perfection — it's about godliness, contentment, generosity, and hope in Christ.

What if the people the world overlooks are the very ones God sees most clearly? In this sermon, we dive into Jesus' story of Lazarus and the rich man and discover a God who knows every name, welcomes every person, and calls us to do the same. When we open our hearts, share what we have, and look beyond our own gates, we get a glimpse of God's kingdom, a place where everyone belongs and no one is forgotten.