Aletheia Church, Providence Ri

We like things to move fast… like 2-day shipping with Amazon. But God doesn’t always work quickly, even though he has more power than Amazon. What do we do when God seems slow? In this sermon, we look at two people who knew a slow process, Abraham and Sarah.

This is the first sermon in a new series, When God Seems Gone. Everyone who follows Jesus can feel at one point or other that God seems distant. How do we handle those moments? What should we do?

It’s resurrection Sunday and our theme today is “Everything can change.” We’re told so often about how to change for the better, but many of those changes don’t stick. The resurrection, however, is news of a different kind of change… one that sticks.

[We only have audio for this sermon because we’re moving into a new auditorium next week.]We have negative associations with kings—tyranny, oppression, self-enrichment—yet on Palm Sunday we celebrate the arrival of Jesus as King. How is it good news that Jesus came to rule as King?

We can all get caught up in thinking that the grass is greener on the other side, but Jesus calls us to love where we live. He told his disciples to see their surroundings differently, to see the opportunities all around them. He calls us to do the same.

Before Jesus instructs his disciples to go make disciples of all nations, he makes the statement, “All authority has been given to me.” What is the link between Jesus’s authority and the commission to go make disciples of all nations?

When Jesus was asked what the greatest command is, he connected loving God with loving your neighbor. So the question becomes, how are we meant to love our neighbors? That’s what this sermon is all about.

In this final part of season 2 in Acts, we look at Peter’s miraculous release from prison. It’s a battle of two kings—King Herod and the true Sovereign King, God himself. When you see the true King at work, the threat of the lesser king shrinks into its right perspective.

Peter’s encounter with Cornelius creates a firestorm of pushback, but once Peter tells the story, the listeners accept it. In our day and age, how does the Spirit work to reshape our perspective? This story helps show us.

The encounter in Acts 10 is as much about Peter as it is about Cornelius. The way God sends Peter to Cornelius does something important inside both men. This shows us that our sending plays an important part in God transforming us and those he sends us to.

Saul seemed like the least likely person to become a disciple of Jesus. Not only was his story transformed by Jesus, but it built up the entire church at the time.

After taking the gospel to Samaria, God sends Philip to a desert road to speak to one man. The identity of this man shows us something about God’s heart for his mission and for the nations.

In Acts 8, the gospel spreads beyond Jerusalem. The first place it goes is very unexpected—Samaria. Will it work in Samaria? Can it overcome 900 years of bad blood?

Jesus knew Lazarus would die and yet chose to wait to do something about it. Why? He had something important in store for Lazarus’s sisters, as well as for those around the family. In this sermon, Jonathan Cothron explores what this amazing story means for our lives today.

Jesus’ miracle of feeding the 5,000 appears in all four Gospel accounts. However, in John’s account, the people who get fed miss what the sign signifies. When they find Jesus again, he tells them what the sign truly meant.

When Jesus heals the man at the pool of Bethesda, he asks him, “Do you want to be healed?” Why does Jesus ask him this question and what does it mean for our lives?

Matthew and Luke introduce us to Jesus by telling us the details surrounding his birth. John introduces us to Jesus by calling him “the Word.” In this sermon we see how this links to the promise in the Bible of a prophet like Moses, and why this is really good news.

What comes to mind when you hear the word priest? Jesus is the promised Priest who comes to gather a kingdom of priests. In this sermon we look at what it means to be a priest and what that means for our lives as followers of Jesus.

Jesus’ arrival is the fulfillment of a promise—a promise made throughout the entire Bible. In this sermon, we go all the way back to Genesis to show the first facet of the promise—the promised Son who will crush the head of the snake.

The event that catapults the gospel of Jesus outside of Jerusalem is the martyrdom of Stephen. What does the death of Stephen teach modern-day witnesses? That the gospel is a saving truth, but it’s not a safe truth.