Soma Spokane Sermons

The world is not as it was meant to be, and you don’t have to be a Christian to know it! All around us, among our best relationships, and even within ourselves, we sense the reality that things are off, and we’re always trying to make them right. We want what the bible calls “righteousness,” the desire for all things to be as they ought, with God, one another, ourselves, and in the world. Jesus names this desire in Matthew 5.6, announcing his blessing to those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” That unmet longing, according to Jesus, is deep in us because we were made for Eden, made for a world of goodness and flourishing, and we’re over-built for the world as it is. Jesus blesses that longing, and promises a satisfaction of it that will be like a feast of rich food. That feast begins now in Jesus, in the righteousness of God given as a gift to those who confess they have none. The feast is a shared table of fellow sinners-declared-righteous, where joy and love abounds. It is an invitation to the feas

The meek will inherit the earth, and if you are like me, I don’t find myself all that meek.  The problem then would be that if I am not meek, I am missing out on blessing and inheriting the land.  Most certainly, who Jesus was talking to at that moment were meek.  They were the poor in spirit, the broken of life, and clambering up the hill to put their trust, not in themselves, but in Jesus for Life.  They had brought their hardships of life to the one who could handle them and in this, Jesus looks at them and says, blessed are you meek people, how unshakeable is your peace and shalom, I am going to fulfill my promises for you, the land is coming and I am going to be your king.  Again, if you are like me, I don’t find myself all that meek.  But there is good news for those coming to Jesus.  The fake confidence and reasons why I am okay that is covering my meekness is really not all that strong or thick and so this week we will ask Jesus to pull off the thin veneer of confidence to reveal the  truth and realit

As Jesus starts his famous Sermon on the Mount, he looks out on the crowds and begins to announce blessing on all the broken and beat-down people of the world. In particular, he sees so many people carrying heavy stories of sadness — grievers, mourners, and the brokenhearted. Jesus doesn’t recoil from them, as if the weight of their grief is some sort of liability to be avoided. He doesn’t look past them in hopes of finding more put-together and well-to-do people. He hasn’t come searching for people who have managed to avoid sadness, loss, and grief (as if that were possible!). Jesus looks right at brokenhearted people, with the full weight of their sadness, pain, loss, and makes a remarkable declaration: The Kingdom of God is for you! God’s deepest peace and his comforting presence — his free gift of salvation — is for you! And Jesus looks at us, with all our grief and pain, and says, I’m glad you are here, and your sorrows are welcome to come right in with you. Jesus invites us to feel and grieve our losses

These words are the heart of Jesus' message: the sermon on the mount is the heart and summary of all Jesus’ teachings, the Beatitudes are the heart and summary of the sermon on the mount, and Blessed are the poor in Spirit is the heart and summary of the Beatitudes. Blessed means to have an unshakeable peace and shalom in all situations of life, a resting place and serenity no matter the circumstances. The Poor in Spirit are the beggarly of life. The empty and broken. And the Kingdom of Heaven is offered to such as these. We all are offered moments to see the true beggarly-ness of life, our empty-ness, our brokenness. It is exactly when our life is shaken, life reveals the brokenness inside and out that we have the opportunity to scramble up the hill to listen to Jesus and hope for the Kingdom of Heaven. Our task is to embrace our brokenness, our poor in spirit, as a path to seeing that Jesus had to come in order to save me. My brokenness can be the best news ever because it will lead me to a place of blessed

As we wrap up our series in the Pastoral Epistles, we’re stepping back and trying to get the big picture one last time. These are Paul’s final letters, and they are written to make sure the churches he started stay the course and become long-term disciple-making outposts. All 3 letters are filled with rich theology and practical direction for churches on mission. Faithful churches embrace 4 priorities, all shaped by the gospel of Jesus: Conviction (theological clarity), Character (deep formation), Culture (healthy community), and Context (faithful witness). This week we survey these letters, wrap up the series, and drive home the goodness of all we’ve learned. Remember Jesus Christ!

The health and strength of each and every local church is Paul’s number one priority in his letters to Timothy and Titus. In Acts, we see Paul’s concern to preach the gospel and make disciples all around the Roman Empire. But his ministry doesn’t end there — he moves to gather new disciples into churches, to establish local leadership, and to commission each church to continue making disciples in their context. As he established these churches, he wanted them to have clear gospel doctrine and gracious gospel culture, so that they could be faithful witnesses to the gospel. In the final chapter of his letter to Titus, Paul tells him to ‘remind’ the church of the importance of how they interact with a hostile world, committing themselves to good and gracious service to all people at all times and in all ways. As people who’ve been rescued graciously by Jesus and given the gift of his Spirit, disciples of Jesus live a humble and courageous life of kindness toward all people.

Last week, we explored what Paul wanted to clarify for Titus: that elders are responsible for clarifying doctrine, modeling godly living, and equipping the church for faithful mission. This week, in chapter 2, we will look at what a healthy, engaged, gospel-centered church could look like. Many of us have seen damaged churches, suffering from the spiritual abuse, hypocrisy, and failures of her leaders. We know that a distracted and adrift church can suck the life from her people and the surrounding community. In contrast, a healthy, gospel-centered church can be a vibrant, life-giving, sweet aroma for everyone. A flourishing church will hold a high view of sound doctrine, the people will be engaged in active discipleship at every level, good speech and works will be the norm, and authority will have dignity and integrity allowing the people to submit joyfully. Imagine that! These marks show up not because of the good behavior and skill of the people, this happens when people become fixated on Jesus’ grace & g

We’ll spend the next few weeks looking at Paul’s letter to Titus, a letter very similar to Paul’s two letters to Timothy. Titus is on the island of Crete where he’s been given a very similar charge as Timothy: Get the churches there fully established so they can have a long-term disciple-making presence! Paul wants the churches strong in gospel truth, beautiful in relationship, and faithful in witness to Jesus. In spite of being in a hard context — many within the church are sowing confusion and many outside the church are pressuring and persecuting — Titus must clarify true doctrine, teach and model godly living, and equip the church for faithful mission. In chapter 1 we see that one of the primary means of the church’s long-term health and fruitfulness is the courage, conviction, and character of the leaders, especially the elders.

We are finishing up Paul’s second letter to Timothy, and he is going to finish his thought on how to fight with very similar themes; actively go work out the kingdom of God and ground yourself in truth. This week we again cover what we are fighting for and then see yet again how Paul calls us to join in this fight. Paul then finishes his letter off with what actually empowers all of our life and the kingdom, grace, and so we will also leave the morning with grace poured out over us.

In Acts 20.29, Paul warned the leaders of the church of Ephesus to watch out for “fierce wolves” who will come among the church and “draw the disciples away.” A few years later, Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus because the church there was in danger, just as Paul had predicted. And now, in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he’s encouraging him to identify, confront, and silence those false teachers and get the church reentered on Jesus, his ways, and his mission. It is no easy task! Thankfully, God has not left Timothy - or us - to figure it out on our own. Our main weapon in this fight is the Bible, where we have both the Old Testament story of God and the New Testament witness to Jesus. By abiding in the Scriptures, we can live with clarity and conviction in the context we find ourselves!

As we continue our study in 2 Timothy this Sunday, we’ll be looking at what it takes to really stay the course as disciples of Jesus when the world is going crazy. Timothy is in Ephesus, where the cultural pressures around the church and the false teachers within the church are threatening the vitality of the church and her mission. For a local church like ours to remain faithful to Jesus, to his word, and to his ways is always such a fight! But it is a fight won not through coercion, politics, or power, but through the faithful transmission of the message, patient endurance of opposition, tenacious commitment to integrity, and a gentle but firm correction of drift. Paul calls us to find our strength in the grace of Jesus, commit ourselves to his disciple-making mission, and endure to the glorious end.

This week we are beginning to read the second letter that Paul wrote to Timothy while he was staying in Ephesus. The first letter was all about what did the people of Ephesus need to hear, what was good doctrine, and what did Jesus actually come to do. But the second letter is more about Timothy than the people. After years of being in Ephesus, Timothy needs encouragement and Paul is going to write what I would call a pep talk to Timothy in order to help him fight to the end. 2 Timothy is a letter written by an aging Paul in Prison to Timothy who needs encouragement to hold on and continue to fight. In our first week looking at this letter we will see Paul encourage Timothy to fan into flame the gift within him and to choose to suffer for the gospel.

The first part of our “A Good Fight” series concludes by looking at Paul’s final charge in 1 Timothy 6. Paul gives Timothy some punchy exhortations — Flee! Pursue! Fight! Take Hold! Keep! Guard! Avoid! — in an effort to drive home the need to engage this fight with a gritty and grace-filled tenacity. The need to engage this fight has not lessened today, and in our own context face the battle on multiple fronts. Holding to the message of the gospel, with deep personal integrity and lives oriented to God’s Kingdom, will always be a hard-fought battle. But God is on his throne, sovereignly orchestrating history toward the great revealing of King Jesus, and our job is to cling to that hope together.

Growing up near the pacific coast there were many days that started with a cloudy marine layer, but most days, by noon the marine layer would burn off leaving a perfectly sunny climate to enjoy. Sometimes, around mid-day, you’d be surprised that the marine layer hasn’t burnt off and instead of a clear day, you’re left scrambling to find the hoodie you have somewhere. The spiritual life can feel like that. Sometimes things are so clear and lovely, glimpses of the way God meant them to be. Other times we are trapped in a place that seems like it is always winter but never Christmas. We long for the good life, and because of that, we find ourselves striving for it in a lot of odd ways. We claw, climb, and chase wealth, ambitious goals, relationships, and material as if it will bring about the good life. We even try to use God as a simple means to the good life. We compromise conviction and contentment for avarice and self-destruction. All the while God is patiently offering us treasure and a good foundation, so