Sermon Series Titles

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The book of 1 Timothy is a letter from the Apostle Paul to a young man named Timothy. It gives Timothy instructions for instructing the leadership of the local church in Ephesus. But church leadership is not just for the pastor. Deacons and other ministry leaders are chosen from within the church body. Timothy’s instructions apply to everyone in the church who might ever be a leader, or worshiper, of any sort — which is all of us.

Pastor Ryan walks us through the book of 1 Timothy, including the controversial parts. What can we learn from Paul’s letter for our church today?

  1. Resolve for Truth – 1 Timothy 1:1-11
  2. God’s Generous Grace – 1 Timothy 1:12-20
  3. Prayer in Worship – 1 Timothy 2:1-8
  4. Learning in Worship – 1 Timothy 2:9-15
  5. Leadership is Serious Business – 1 Timothy 3:1-13
  6. The Mysterious Pillar of Faith – 1 Timothy 3:14-16
  7. Stay Focused – 1 Timothy 4
  8. More than Just a Word About Widows – 1 Timothy 5:1-16
  9. Not So Easy – 1 Timothy 5:17 – 6:2a
  10. Let’s Not Quibble About Being Content – 1 Timothy 6:2b-10
  11. Run Away! – 1 Timothy 6:11-21

Photo by Wylly Suhendra on Unsplash

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Mary, Zechariah, the Angels, and Simeon all rejoiced at the coming of the baby Saviour. Pastor Ryan’s 2022 Advent sermon series looks at all four of these New Testament songs and prophecies.

Photo by David Beale on Unsplash

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This sermon series looks at several (but not all!) of the many questions Jesus asks people in the New Testament. These questions can help us examine the current state of our faith and lives and help us see and approach Jesus in a new way.

Photo by Laurenz Kleinheider on Unsplash

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This sermon series looks at several (but not all!) of the many “one another” passages in the New Testament. How can we effectively care for one another and so show the world that we are truly disciples of Jesus?

There is also a practical component to this sermon series. Here is a description from Pastor Ryan:

Adele Calhoun, in her book Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us, offers several suggestions to help put living the “one another’s” into practice. I’d like to suggest this one to you:

“Choose a “one another” that you want to become a hallmark of your life. Consider why this “one another” is important to you. Picture what practising the “one another” will cost you. It could cost you time, money and a variety of self-indulgent moods and behaviors. Commit yourself to practising the “one another” every day for two weeks. At the end of each day, notice where you lived your “one another.” Where did you not live your “one another”? Seek grace to continue to incarnate Christ’s self-donating love. At the end of two weeks, consider whether or not you should dedicate two more weeks to intentionally living your “one another”. Do you feel called to move on to a different one?”

Calhoun, Adele Ahlberg. Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 2005

Pastor Ryan covered nine “one anothers” in this series. There are many more in the New Testament Epistles (letters)! Try a search for “one another” in Bible Gateway to find more of them. Use the links to the books of the Bible in the right sidebar to narrow your search to the Epistles.

Photo by Jess Zoerb on Unsplash

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This is Pastor Ryan’s sermon series for the weeks leading up to Easter in 2022. He looks in detail at Jesus’ prayer in John 17, which comes at the end of Jesus’ last teachings to his disciples just before he was betrayed. Jesus prays for his followers, but also for all who will believe in him afterwards, which includes us. What did Jesus pray for in his last prayer on Earth? What does he want us to remember?

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Emotionally Healthy Spirituality cover

From February 16 to April 5, Pastor Ryan preached a sermon series based on Peter Scazzero’s book “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality”. (The series was interrupted by the COVID lockdown, so was never finished.)

Topics included:

  1. The Problem of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality
  2. Know Yourself that You May Know God
  3. Going Back in Order to Go Forward
  4. Journey Through the Wall (letting go of power and control)
  5. Enlarge Your Soul Through Grief
  6. Discover the Rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath
  7. Grow into an Emotionally Mature Adult
  8. Develop a “Rule of Life”

From the book jacket:

Peter Scazzero learned the hard way: you can’t be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature. Though Scazzero was an experienced pastor of a growing church, his life and faith remained emotionally unhealthy. Like so many in the church, he routinely:

  • avoided healthy conflict in the name of keeping the peace
  • ignored and suppressed emotions
  • used work for God as an excuse to run from God
  • lived without limits

In this bestselling book, Scazzero outlines the top ten symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality. He then unpacks core biblical principles to guide you into an experience of lasting, beneath-the-surface transformation in your relationship with Christ.

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Contrarians Guide to Knowing God

In the fall of 2019, our church embarked on a year of seeking to draw closer to God. As part of that, we launched a church-wide study where everyone would study the same book for a period of time. The book is A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God, by Larry Osborne.

Pastor Ryan kicked off each week’s study topic with his Sunday sermon, which was keyed to Larry Osborne’s video series on RightNow Media. These are the five sermons.

  1. Leave the Rules Behind
  2. You Don’t Need more Faith or Passion
  3. You Don’t Need Someone Else’s Habits or Gifts
  4. Don’t Let Tools Become Rules
  5. Is It a Sin to be Average?

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From January 13 to March 31, 2019, Pastor Ryan Emmons explored the Ten Commandments. Are they still relevant today? Why or why not? What did Jesus have to say about them? And how do we live out each commandment in the post-Easter kingdom of God, and in our current community and world?