Sermons by Dean Wertz (Page 35)

The Story #14: When God’s People Divide (I Kings 12-16)

In 931 B.C. God’s people tore into two nations and sometimes God’s people still divide today. Schisms destroy our joy and our ability to fulfill God’s call to bless all the families of the earth. With so much at stake, God reveals in I Kings 12-16 that relational division is actually the result of one or more people drifting away from God and His ways. For all who know the angst of relational conflict and division, in Christ there is help and hope.

The Story #13: Solomon – Is God Enough? (I Kings 1-11)

In our journey through The Story, this week’s chapter about Solomon is entitled, “The King who had it All.” Solomon did have it all the moment He began his relationship with God because Solomon had God. In addition, God blessed him to overflowing in the years that followed. Like the appetite of a glutton and the cravings of a drunkard the heart of man is never satisfied. Most of us spend years chasing pleasures that were never meant to be our portion. It appears that at the end of Solomon’s life he finally realized that God is enough. Do not waste another day another day of your life – God is enough!

The Story #12: David – A Life Restored (II Samuel 11-12)

Do you have a “secret” past or present sin? No one is immune from wandering from God into an act or habit that produces guilt and shame. While King David was “a man after God’s own heart” he was still a man. As a man he put himself in a place where he then gave in to the temptation of lust. Next, like many embarrassed children of God, he sought to cover it up. Fortunately, God loves His children, so in His grace, He pursues us to bring us to a moment of clarity in which we can confess our sin. In this text God is so good to reveal that when we confess our sin, He is gracious to restore us to our relationship with Him and to our significant role as laborers in His harvest.

God with Us (Matthew 1:23 & 28:20)

We all long for more peace, more joy, more fulfillment, and more of almost everything. Could it be that our longings are hunger pains for God? 700 years before Jesus’ birth the prophet Isaiah wrote, “…they shall call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us.” Yet, can God really be with us today? The announcement in this message is “YES.” After Matthew recounts God with us walking on water, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and raising dead children, he relays Jesus resurrected words, “…I am with you always, to the end of the age.” This is the promise of God’s enduring presence for all who believe in and follow Immanuel.

4th Week of Advent: Jesus is Our Hope (Matthew 2:1-11)

On this 4th Sunday of Advent we worship God for His gift of hope. Like oxygen, we all need a positive future to anticipate. Yet most everything we hope for is perishable. In this message we remember the hope of the Wise Men as they journeyed to see the new born King of the Jews. Centuries before His birth the prophet Isaiah announced that “in His name all the nations would put their hope” and years after Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and ascension Paul called Christ “the hope of glory” and Peter described Him as “a living hope… imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” So, let us wisely and humbly set our ultimate hope on the only King whose birth announcement was a star.

2nd Week of Advent: Jesus is Grace and Truth (John 1:14-18)

On this 2nd Sunday of Advent we worship Jesus whom John describes as “full of grace and truth.” We all tend to be stronger in either grace or truth. Yet, the more we exhibit both qualities the more we are capable of blessing others. When there is no grace people cannot hear. When there is no truth people cannot respect. In this message we worship King Jesus who rules in this unique way and who extends His grace to make all of His disciples in His kingdom to become more like Him.

1st Week of Advent: Jesus is Light (John 1:1-13)

The word Advent comes from a Latin word meaning “to come.” On this 1st Sunday of Advent we celebrate the first coming of Jesus as the light of the world. Similar to the transformation from darkness to light that we all experienced when we were born, so everything changes when the light of Christ shines into our spiritual darkness and we experience our new birth from above.