Pastor Ryan’s sermon “Prepared to Enter” explores how we should prepare ourselves for worship. What kind of character do we need to have if we want to “dwell in the house of the Lord”, or remain in the presence of the Holy One?

Colossians 1:21-23 (NLT) ; 歌 羅 西 書 1:21-23 (CUVS)
Psalm 15 (NLT) ; 詩 篇 15 (CUVS)

You can also download Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes (not a transcript).

Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash

Pastor Ryan’s sermon “The Girl Who Lived” looks at hope and the faithfulness of God in the stories of Jesus healing the woman who was bleeding when she touched his robe, and bringing Jairus’s daughter back to life. As Lamentations 3:31-32 (NLT) tells us,

31 … no one is abandoned by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion
    because of the greatness of his unfailing love.

Lamentations 3:22-33 (NLT) ; 耶 利 米 哀 歌 3:22-33 (CUVS)
Mark 5:21-43 (NLT) ; 馬 可 福 音 5:21-43 (CUVS)

You can also download Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes (not a transcript).

Photo from “The Chosen” Season 3 Episode 5.

Pastor Ryan’s sermon “Getting What We Want” looks at the story of the failure of King Saul and the anointing of David as his successor. Sometimes God gives us what we ask for, even if it isn’t best for us, and then He graciously helps us deal with the repercussions.

Psalm 20 NLT) / 詩 篇 20 (CUVS)
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 (NLT) / 撒 母 耳 記 上 15:34-16:13 (CUVS)

You can also download Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes (not a transcript).

Photo from Bible Art.

Pastor Ryan’s sermon “Scattered Seed” is based on Jesus’ parable of the sower: some seeds fell on rocky soil, some on thin soil, some among thorns, and so on. Jesus explains what it means, so our job is to figure out where we fit in the parable. It all seems quite straightforward, until you look at the farmer…

Hosea 10:12 (NLT) / 何 西 阿 書 10:12 (CUVS)
Matthew 13:1-9 NLT) / 馬 太 福 音 13:1-9 (CUVS)
Matthew 13:18-23 (NLT) / 馬 太 福 音 13:18-23 (CUVS)

You can also download Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes (not a transcript).

Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash

Pastor Ryan’s sermon “The Jar Paradox” talks about the paradox in the image of believers being “fragile jars of clay”, as well as the paradoxes that follow in Paul’s letter. It doesn’t make sense that the great treasure of the Gospel would be “stored” in relatively fragile containers, and yet that is exactly what God has done in entrusting us not only to experience His love, power and grace for ourselves, but also to be witness of that to the world around us.

Psalm 18:1-6 (NLT) / 詩 篇 18:1-6 (CUVS)
2 Corinthians 4:5-12 (NLT) / 歌 林 多 後 書 4:5-12 (CUVS)

You can also download Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes (not a transcript). In this sermon, he talks about the classic children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit. Since it is out of copyright, you can read it online for free if you like.

Photo by Earl Wilcox on Unsplash