Soma Spokane Sermons

We want to become a praying church. A people who allows prayer to be the power of what we do together, who pray Scripture-fed and Spirit-led prayers, who seek intimacy with God that leads to fulfillment of his purposes in us, through us, and around us. We want to seek his face, cultivate his presence, and position ourselves to meet with him. To that end, we’re looking at biblical prayers from all across the Storyline of Scripture. Each week we’ll look at the context (understand where we are in the story and how that shapes the pray-er and his/her prayer), the content (what is emphasized, requested, described, etc.) of the prayer, and the connections (how we can or should use each prayer as a model for our own engagement with God). We’ll practice praying together each week, using the prayer as a model. This week we look at Habakkuk's song of prayer from Habakkuk 3, teaching us to contend for joy in the Lord in the midst of suffering.

We want to become a praying church. A people who allows prayer to be the power of what we do together, who pray Scripture-fed and Spirit-led prayers, who seek intimacy with God that leads to fulfillment of his purposes in us, through us, and around us. We want to seek his face, cultivate his presence, and position ourselves to meet with him. To that end, we’re looking at biblical prayers from all across the Storyline of Scripture. Each week we’ll look at the context (understand where we are in the story and how that shapes the pray-er and his/her prayer), the content (what is emphasized, requested, described, etc.) of the prayer, and the connections (how we can or should use each prayer as a model for our own engagement with God). We’ll practice praying together each week, using the prayer as a model. This week we look at Solomon's prayer for the church from 1 Kings 3:1-15.

We want to become a praying church. A people who allow prayer to be the power of what we do together, who pray Scripture-fed and Spirit-led prayers, who seek intimacy with God that leads to fulfillment of his purposes in us, through us, and around us. We want to seek his face, cultivate his presence, and position ourselves to meet with him. To that end, we’re looking at biblical prayers from all across the Storyline of Scripture. Each week we’ll look at the context (understand where we are in the story and how that shapes the pray-er and his/her prayer), the content (what is emphasized, requested, described, etc) of the prayer, and the connections (how we can or should use each prayer as a model for our own engagement with God). We’ll practice praying together each week, using the prayer as a model. This week we’ll look at Hannah’s prayer from 1 Samuel 2:1-10.

One of our priorities over the last few years has been to move from being “a church that prays” to being “a praying church.” We want prayer — turning to God in praise, dependence, confession, and supplication — to be the power of what we do together. We want to pray Scripture-fed and Spirit-led prayers, seeking intimacy with God that leads to fulfillment of his purposes in us, through us, and around us. We want to seek his face, cultivate his presence, and position ourselves to meet with him. “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” To that end, we’re taking 8 Sundays this Summer (July 16 - September 2) and looking at biblical prayers from all across the Storyline of Scripture. Each week we’ll look at the context (understand where we are in the story and how that shapes the pray-er and his/her prayer), the content (what is emphasized, requested, described, etc) of the prayer, and the connections (how we can or should use each prayer as a model for our own engagement with God). We’ll practice praying t

This series is all about what it means to fulfill Jesus' Promise: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. 1 Peter 3.13-18 tells us to Bear Witness includes 3 things: Deep allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom, clear readiness to suffer for Jesus' sake, and a commitment to live good lives - with personal integrity, in committed community, and in service to the world. As we do that, Peter says, we'll have opportunity to respond to those who ask for a reason for the hope that is in us. In the final part of our series, we're giving reasons for hope by looking at the Storyline of the Bible - Creation, Rebellion, Redemption, and Restoration. Each movement propels hope-filled living and gives us intellectually stimulating, emotionally satisfying, and consistently livable answers to life's biggest questions. This week we explore the doctrine of Restoration: God will return to dwell among us as he did in Eden, remaking the world as it was meant to be, eradicating evil an

This series is all about what it means to fulfill Jesus' Promise: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. 1 Peter 3.13-18 tells us to Bear Witness includes 3 things: Deep allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom, clear readiness to suffer for Jesus' sake, and a commitment to live good lives - with personal integrity, in committed community, and in service to the world. As we do that, Peter says, we'll have opportunity to respond to those who ask for a reason for the hope that is in us. In the final part of our series, we're giving reasons for hope by looking at the Storyline of the Bible - Creation, Rebellion, Redemption, and Restoration. Each movement propels hope-filled living and gives us intellectually stimulating, emotionally satisfying, and consistently livable answers to life's biggest questions. This week we explore the doctrine of Redemption: putting everything right through Jesus, restoring what has been marred and destroyed in all of creation's rebellion

This series is all about what it means to fulfill Jesus' Promise: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. 1 Peter 3.13-18 tells us to Bear Witness includes 3 things: Deep allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom, clear readiness to suffer for Jesus' sake, and a commitment to live good lives - with personal integrity, in committed community, and in service to the world. As we do that, Peter says, we'll have opportunity to respond to those who ask for a reason for the hope that is in us. In the final part of our series, we're giving reasons for hope by looking at the Storyline of the Bible - Creation, Rebellion, Redemption, and Restoration. Each movement propels hope-filled living and gives us intellectually stimulating, emotionally satisfying, and consistently livable answers to life's biggest questions. This week we explore the doctrine of Rebellion: We are alienated from God and living in a world that is unravelling from God's original intent.

This series is all about what it means to fulfill Jesus' Promise: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. 1 Peter 3.13-18 tells us to Bear Witness includes 3 things: Deep allegiance to Jesus and his kingdom, clear readiness to suffer for Jesus' sake, and a commitment to live good lives - with personal integrity, in committed community, and in service to the world. As we do that, Peter says, we'll have opportunity to respond to those who ask for a reason for the hope that is in us. In the final part of our series, we're giving reasons for hope by looking at the Storyline of the Bible - Creation, Rebellion, Redemption, and Restoration. Each movement propels hope-filled living and gives us intellectually stimulating, emotionally satisfying, and consistently livable answers to life's biggest questions. This week we explore the doctrine of Creation: We live in a God-breathed and God-sustained world, amongst people made in God's image, built to depend on and center

Peter’s vision is actually really down to earth: commit yourself to doing good in the world, and be ready to speak of the hope you have when the moment comes. There’s no door-knocking or weird sales pitches. There’s faithfulness to Jesus that shows itself in the kind of life that demands an explanation. And when that moment comes, we answer with gentleness and respect, even when people revile us. Practically, this means being “zealous for good deeds” — to live as citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom for the sake of the world — with an eager readiness to give a reason for your hope. What kind of lives might lead our neighbors to ask “why?” And what will be our answer when they do?

The expectation of the early church was that allegiance to Jesus would mean suffering. It wasn’t a matter of “if” but of “when” and “how”. For many, it was the rejection or ridicule of family, friends, and neighbors. For others, it was official persecution, suffering, and death. Peter says, don’t see it as “something strange” (4.13) but to “rejoice” because you suffer with Christ! We’re to suffer as we commit ourselves to living good lives, suffering not because we’re meddlers but because we’re disciples of Jesus. God is at work in our suffering, as he conforms us to the image of Christ and prepares us to share in the glory of Christ.

We’re launching a new series this Sunday entitled “Bearing Witness,” and we’ll be spending 7 weeks in 1 Peter 3.13-18. Peter gives us a “mission for normal folks” in these verses. This isn’t Paul in Acts traveling city to city and causing riots; this is everyday folks, living in neighborhoods, raising their families, working their jobs, and being faithful witnesses for Jesus. They aren’t knocking on doors, trying awkwardly to drop “Jesus” into every conversation, or donning some witness-wear. They’re people energized by the Spirit and the Good News, zealously committed to doing what is good, right, and true, even when it is costly. They’ve given their whole-hearted allegiance to Jesus and his Kingdom, and have abandoned hopes in the Empire. They are living the kind of lives that make their neighbors ask questions, into which they are eager and ready to speak of their Hope in Jesus. They hold their deep convictions and speak of them with gentleness and respect. In all things, Jesus is not only their message bu

This Mother's Day, we'll share stories of motherhood and the sufficiency of Jesus. We’ve got a handful of mommas who are sharing their mess and challenge, revealing their need for Jesus, and talking about how He has met them in the journey. This won’t be perfect moms sharing their tips for being better moms; this will be real moms sharing their real need for a Real Savior, and all the ways that Real Savior has been gracious, present, and empowering through the good, bad, and ugly of mom life. Regardless of your experience, you'll be encouraged to hear what Jesus can and is doing among us!

We're ending our series in Luke's Gospel by looking at the first chapters of Acts, which is the continuation of Luke's telling of the Jesus Story. In Acts 1 Jesus promises to send the Spirit to empower his disciples to be his witnesses. In Acts 2, the Spirit arrives, the church is born, and the mission of Jesus continues in and through his people. From the very beginning, the church is marked by Spirit-wrought unity, Jesus-centered humility, and Family-like community. This week, Rodney McAuley joins us to talk about his ministry of racial justice and reconciliation in the church.

In Acts, Luke continues the narrative of the work of Jesus. The tomb is empty, Jesus is alive, and as he ascends to his throne in heaven, he gives clear direction about how his followers are to continue his work. His ongoing mission in the world depends on this community of failures. Everything Jesus came to do is now being entrusted to his Church. But, here’s the catch, the disciples can’t seem to get it right. They don’t have what it takes. They are confused, scared, and prone to give up easily. We are sent to bear witness to the Story - his life, death, resurrection; the forgiveness of sins; repentance and baptism; a new kind of human life together - but we can’t make it very far past the resurrection before we start flopping again; missing what Jesus is really saying. This is why the work of the Holy Spirit is so important. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will empower them (and us!) to live out the mission. All they are to do is wait, expect, pray, and depend. Not on their own strength, but on the pow

The gospel according to Luke ends with the Risen King Jesus showing up among his perplexed, fearful, and anxious community of disciples. In Acts - which is Luke's Volume 2 of the Jesus Story! - Luke tells us Jesus spent 40 days with this community, teaching them about the Kingdom of God. In this week's text we get a sample of what Jesus taught. First, he wanted them to know him in all his resurrection glory, and to trust his work on their behalf. Second, he wanted them to understand what he had accomplished and made possible. Third, he wanted to prepare them to be his witnesses, proclaiming and demonstrating the Good News to the ends of the earth. And finally, he wanted to know the power of the Spirit who would accomplish all of this through them. All of this sets up the movement of the gospel that unfolds in the book of Acts, eventually reaching all the way to us!

"He is not here, but has risen." With those words, the world shifts. Jesus is the center of history, and his resurrection is the hinge point. Yet, when the angels announce the resurrection, nobody understands it, and nobody believes it! But by the end of the story, the whole community of disciples is saying together, "He is risen, indeed!" That’s what Easter is all about: The facts of the resurrection (He is Risen!) become the energizing reality of a disciple’s life (He is Risen, Indeed!). The facts tell us why we can believe it, and the second tells us why we should!

None of the Gospel writers spend much time describing the actual crucifixion of Jesus. There are very few gory details, though crucifixion was brutal, shameful, and excruciating. Two details almost all the writers include are the darkening of the day and the tearing of the temple curtain. Both carry a great deal of theological weight, helping us to understand exactly what is happening in the final moments before Jesus lets go of his life. The darkness symbolizes that God's judgement against evil is falling on Jesus - the great and terrible day of the Lord has come, but to God's Son and not to us. The torn curtain symbolizes the end of all that has separated us from God and opening of access to his presence - we are no longer separated from God, but welcomed to draw near.

As Jesus appears before the last person who can spare him from being tormented on the cross, he refuses to plead for his life. Why? Because he WANTS to go to the cross. And when they nail him to the beam and hang him up to die, and they hurl insults at him, he holds no grudge. Instead he prays "Father, forgive them." The sins of mankind (including yours and mine) meant that the cross was necessary - so while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

The story of Judas' betrayal is infamous: One of Jesus' closes companions conspires with the Religious power brokers to destroy Jesus, working in conjunction with Satan himself. For Judas, Jesus was a means to an end, and in this moment he sells Jesus out for a bit of cash. Loyalty, the opposite of betrayal, is being true to someone despite attractive alternatives. While it is easy to point fingers at Judas, the story is meant to lead us to reflect on our own attractive alternatives and the places for which Jesus is a means to an end in our own lives. And yet - thru the very means of Judas' betrayal! - Jesus displays his self-giving loyalty, giving his body and blood for us, accomplishing redemption on our behalf.

We throw the word glory around but really, what does it mean? A glow, a radiance, or the Holiness of God? We may typically think of being in awe while looking at His image. The Bible seems to give a much fuller picture of the glory of God. One of his character, His benevolent rule, and of the goodness and blessing He spreads. And on top of a fuller picture, the Bible again and again gives examples of Him sharing His glory with man as He commissions us to go and spread his reweaving, shalomic glory across mankind. As we spend our days aching alongside all of creation and working towards the blessing of the earth, we eagerly look towards the day that Jesus, the author of Glory returns and makes all things right and new.