College Wesleyan Church Sermons

Steve DeNeff: When Spirit-animated people (or churches) make decisions, they discern more than decide. They have assumptions, they follow practices that others simply lack. What are they? And how do we practice them today? We need a model for making decisions that is spiritual, practical, repeatable and can be done quickly.

Steve DeNeff: Growth brings complexity and complexity strangles growth. That is the paradox confronting every church that grows. How do Spirit-animated churches, like ours, protect the mission from the threat of success? How do they find their leaders? And what do they expect from them? As we think about leaders in our church, what can we learn from the one in Acts?

DJ Coleman: Those who walk in the Spirit live in the flow of conversations with God about what they are working on together. More than praying with the mouth or from their heart, they pray in the Spirit and with impressive results. Things happen that otherwise wouldn’t have because of their conversations with God.

Ethan Linder: Our cultural moment is determined either to keep faith “personal and private,” OR to militarize our faith, bludgeoning others with our arguments. The apostles give us a third way: refusing to compartmentalize or weaponize, they instead, “spoke as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2) This sermon will address what it means for us to speak as the Spirit enables us.

Steve DeNeff: If the secret of Pentecost is 120 people learning to walk daily in the Spirit, what are the quiet, unseen habits of those people? What do they do in private that prepares them for the public demonstration?

Steve DeNeff: For years, we have prayed for revival, for another Pentecost. But the secret of Pentecost is not the number (120) who were “filled with the Spirit,” but those who learned to “walk in the Spirit” afterward. This is what it means … Are you in?

Steve DeNeff: Despite the spiritual climate of our day, this is what is still possible for the Church – for our church – because of God and Pentecost.

Steve DeNeff: Matthew 7:13-14, 21-29; Throughout Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, he calls for a deeper, more thorough transformation that occurs in layers. All are good but some are better. What are they? And how do we move from one to another?

Steve DeNeff: According to Jesus, persecution, whether great or small, is inevitable. Rather than resisting it, he tells us to embrace it (“rejoice and be glad”), as a prophetic act that helps to establish the kingdom of God.

Vickie Conrad: What are you hungry and thirsty for? And how do our cravings affect the way we live? Is it possible that the way of Jesus invites us to a hunger and a thirst that also fills...

Ethan Linder: We’ve nearly discarded the word “meek” from our vocabulary: partly because we don’t understand what it means, and partly because it feels impractical, fragile… not fit for our moment. In every life, though, there comes a moment when we need a power that’s more than forcefulness, and a fortitude that’s based on more than blind optimism. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

Steve DeNeff: Sooner or later there comes a hush in every person’s life, that moment when the unthinkable happens, when the last option has failed and we’re alone with our thoughts. What then? “Blessed are those who have lost what is most dear to them, for they are embraced by the One who is most dear to them.”

Steve DeNeff: Who are the most holy among us? It’s not always who we think it is and despite our intentions to become more holy, we have learned habits that move us in the opposite direction. What are those habits? And how do we unlearn them?

Emily Vermilya: The Beatitudes are not commands to achieve but radical declarations of blessing that reveal the Kingdom of God, where the overlooked and broken are already favored.