Sermons – Somerset Church of Christ

April 29, 2026

The gift of encouragement

The gift of encouragement is just that–it’s a gift! It’s a gift that we can and should give to others. God created us to respond to positive encouragement. Think about the way Jesus asked people to pray. He didn’t reprimand or shame them into praying. Instead, he said, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24). He encouraged them to have faith in God. Jesus was constantly encouraging his disciples and never stopped doing so.

Encouragement in the Bible literally means to call someone near (for the purpose of imploring, entreat, or comfort them). 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” The word for building up (one another) comes from two words, house and rooftop. It means to build someone (as a house), brick-by-brick until the house reaches its fullness to the tipy top. In other words, your building one another up isn’t completed until that person is whole. It’s not a partial encouragement. Instead, we are edifying the person until they become whole again.

Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” In both this passage and 1 Thessalonians 5, the motivation for encouraging one another is that the Day is drawing near. Judgement day should not catch us off guard. We need to always be prepared for it and we need to always prepare others for it by encouraging them and building them up to serve in the Lord.

April 21, 2026

Giving honor to whom is is due

elderly veteran saluting outdoors in uniform

Romans 12:10 says, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” The word for honor in the Greek language literally means to fix value to someone. 1 Peter 2:17 says, “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” Literally, Peter is saying, “fix value to everyone.” “Fix value to the emperor.”

Paul addressed the Roman church and told them not to resist the governing authorities. He told them that they were instituted by God and that “rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no rear of the one who is in authority? Do what is good, and you will receive his approval” (Romans 13:3). Paul also says to “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed” (vs. 7).

Yes, we give honor to everyone, but we also give honor to whom honor is owed. These statements are not in conflict with one another. Everyone should be honored, and we also must give honor to the one whom honor is owed. This means we don’t brush off the importance of fixing value to people who were created in God’s image! If ever there’s something we shouldn’t hesitate to do, it’s to give honor to our fellow man.

April 9, 2026

The ministry of presence

silhouette of couple walking at sunset in uzbekistan

Job lost everything. It’s hard to imagine losing one child. But Job lost all ten of his children at once. He lost all of his thousands of sheep, camels, and servants. He lost 500 yoke of oxen and 500 female donkeys. He lost his health and his wife told him to curse God and die. It’s impossible to imagine the magnitude of that loss and trauma. His friends made an appointment to see him, knowing that he was distraught. They came to comfort him.

Job reads, “And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great” (Job 2:12-13). This is the ministry of presence–simply being present for people who are suffering. We all know the story and that they began to lecture and criticize Job.

The ministry of presence is a gift that God gives us. Jesus himself did it reapeatedly. When Mary and Martha’s brother died, Jesus was with Mary. “When Jesus saw her weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled” (John 11:33). When he asked where they laid Lazarus, Jesus wept. This act of compassion and Jesus’ ministry of presence brought healing to Mary and Martha. This is a ministry that should never be overlooked.

March 31, 2026

Easter: The gift of new life

human standing beside crucifix statue on mountain

As Christians celebrate the resurrection of our Savior around the world, we reflect on God’s grace and mercy, and the gift of new life that we have through Jesus. 1 Peter 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. . . ” Our living hope comes through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection is essential to our faith. Paul said, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor. 15:13-14). Paul continued, “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are stil in your sins” (vs. 16-17).

Paul links the resurrection directly to baptism. In Romans 6:4 he says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” When we are baptized, we are baptized into both his death and resurrection and upon emerging from the water we are given the gift of a new life.

March 24, 2026March 25, 2026

The peaceful king

brown and white donkey standing on snow covered ground

Jesus fulfilled Zechariah 9:9 when he rode on a donkey during the triumphal entry: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The king did, in fact, come. And he rode on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Luke 19 records the triumphal entry in detail. Jesus told two of his disciples to go ahead of him when they were on the Mount of Olives. He said, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here” (Luke 19:30). They did so. They threw their cloaks on the donkey and set Jesus on it. As he rode along, the crowds threw their cloaks on the road.

“As he was drawing near–already on the way down the Mount of Olives–the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!'” (vs. 37-38). As Jesus entered Jerusalem the week before he died, there was great rejoicing over him as the peaceful king. Zechariah was fulfilled before their very eyes.

March 17, 2026

The measuring stick (how we judge vs love)

Measuring sticks are very important and they need to be meticulously calibrated. In Matthew 7:1-2 Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured you.” In other words, don’t dish it out if you can’t take it yourself. There are lots of examples of measuring sticks gone wrong. The Mars Climate Orbiter, for example, was a $125 million loss when it burned up in the Martian atmosphere. One engineering team used imperial units while another used metric units.

Jesus continued by asking how you see the speck in your brother’s eye when you have a log in your own. He concluded, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (vs. 5). Luke adds a component: “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:37-38).

The point is not that we can never judge. It’s that we better be extremely careful how we view other people. Do we nitpick (use a false measurement) or do we first treat people with kindness, mercy, and forgiveness? If we miscalculate, we could end up becoming like the “too big French trains”–Railway engineers famously ordered over 2,000 new regional trains that were too wide for the platforms at 1,300 stations because they failed to measure the infrastructure.

March 11, 2026

The truth will set you free

man wearing grey shirt standing on elevated surface

In the gospel of John, Jesus is constantly confronted by antagonizers who are trying their hardest to catch him blaspheming. Jesus spent a long time telling groups of people that he is the light of the world and anyone who follows him will no longer walk in darkness. Then he told them, “If you abide in my word, you truly are my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

They argued with Jesus, saying that they’re offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (vs. 34). He said that the slave doesn’t remain in the house forever, but the son does. Therefore, if he sets them free (from their sins), they are free indeed.

Jesus acknowledged that they were offspring of Abraham, “yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you” (vs. 37). They refused to abide in Jesus’ word, which is the truth. If fact, they couldn’t because his word finds no place in them. Until they accept the word of Jesus, there can be no truth. As long as there is no truth, they listen to the lies of Satan. But thank God that we have access to the word of Jesus. As long as we abide in it, we are his disciples and the truth sets us free from our sins!