Christ the King Presbyterian Church

Download the Bulletin below: 20261101_finalDownload Transcript 20261101Download Rev. Tobias Riggs – November 1, 2026 Well, good morning. For those of you who don’t know, I’m Tobias. I’m the Associate Pastor here at Christ the King, and it’s my privilege to open God’s Word with y’all this morning. Back in May, we began something we planned to return to between our other series, and that’s time in the Minor Prophets. We started with Habakkuk back in May, and this morning we come to the book of Zephaniah. Now, these 12 books at the end of the Old Testament are called minor, not because they’re less important, but because they’re short compared to prophets like Isaiah or Jeremiah. And yet, they can be dense and obscure, and their message is often hard to hear, which is probably why most of us don’t spend a lot of time in these books. And this morning, this chapter is no exception. In fact, it’s one of the most sobering in all of Scripture, and there’s very little comfort on its surface. And yet, I’m convinced it’s a word we need to hear, and that there’s more grace underneath it than we might first think. So let’s go ahead and read chapter 1 of Zephaniah together. “The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD. “I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD. I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests, those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom, those who have turned back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of him.” Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.And on the day of the LORD’s sacrifice— “I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire. On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud. On that day,” declares the LORD, “a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills. Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar! For all the traders are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off.At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.’ Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.” (ESV) Friends, this is the Word of the Lord. Let’s pray. Oh Father, we bow before you,

Download the bulletin below: 20261025_finalDownload Transcript 20261025Download Rev. John Pennylegion – October 25, 2026 Good morning. Welcome to Christ the King. If we haven’t met, my name is Penny, and I’m the senior pastor here, and friends, it is good to be with you. If you are a guest or a visitor, we’re especially glad that you would join us this morning, and we are finishing up this morning, actually, our series in the book of Colossians. So we’re going to be wrapping up our series in Colossians, and next week we’ll be turning to a minor prophet in the Old Testament for a few weeks before Advent, but this morning we’re in Colossians 4, so if you have a Bible, you can turn to Colossians 4. If you don’t have a Bible, there are Bibles in the chairs in front of you, and we also project the passage on the screen, and if you came here this morning and you don’t have a Bible and you would like one, we would love for you to take that Bible in the chair with you today. That’s our gift to you. We would love for you to have that. But as we look at the end of Colossians 4, if you’re familiar with the New Testament, particularly the letters of Paul or John or Peter, then the end of Colossians won’t be very surprising to you, because at the end, we have a farewell. We have final remarks. Paul’s going to name people that have been laboring alongside him, have been working with him for the advancement of the gospel. He’s wrapping things up. But if you’re not familiar with the New Testament and the various writings that we encounter in the New Testament, then it might be surprising that we have this list of names in the way that Paul concludes the letter, because for many people, we think of the Bible as simply a collection of theological treatises. And so when we come to passages like this, it might seem odd, because we’re expecting sort of like a systematic theology textbook, and that’s not what we’re getting. Because that’s actually not what the Bible is, right? In the New Testament particularly, much of the New Testament are letters, letters written by particular people like Peter and John and Paul. They’re not simply theological abstractions that are cast out into the ether. No, they’re letters addressing particular issues written to particular people by an actual person. And that’s what these farewell remarks in these letters often remind me of, that we’re reading someone else’s mail, right? A personal letter that he wrote to people that he has connection to, relationship with, and he’s dealing with actual issues. And so these verses, they’re not throw away. I imagine that for some of us, I won’t ask for a show of hands, but I imagine for some of us as we go through our Bible reading plans, if you do that sort of thing, when you come to these portions, you kind of look at and go, okay, first Thessalonians, let’s move on, right? We skip over the passages that have lots of names and names that are hard to understand and names that we don’t know anything about. And I understand that. I resonate. I tend to move through these a little quicker than other passages. However, this is God’s word. It’s all God’s word, even these portions. And so it’s good for us to take a few minutes and to glean from this what Paul was saying about these people and what he was saying to them and what they were called to do and what he’s saying to us, who we are and what we’re called to do. So with that in mind, let’s read Colossians 4, beginning in verse 7. Paul writes, “Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you

Download the bulletin below: 20261018_finalDownload Transcript 20261018Download Transcript 20261018 October 18, 2026 – Rev. Bailey Wagner Well friends, it seems like this month has been RUF month for us because a couple weeks ago we had the RUF campus minister at Lynchburg come at Liberty, come and share with us what he’s doing and how the Lord is at work there. And this morning we have Bailey Wagner who’s with us, who is the RUF pastor at JMU. So RUF again is Reform University Fellowship. It’s our campus ministry for our denomination. As I said a couple weeks ago, we really like RUF around here. It does great work on the college campus. And so Bailey is going to come and share God’s word with us. Bailey’s been with RUF for just a few years, but this is his first time being with us at CTK. So he wanted to make sure to come and greet y’all. We support his ministry, his work, have sent students like our own Sarah Knowles and others who are involved in his ministry. And so we’re very, very thankful for RUF and for Bailey. So Bailey, welcome. It’s good to be with y’all. Like Penny said, I’m Bailey Wagner. I have a girl’s name, so you might have been confused when you saw that in the bulletin, but don’t worry. I can’t tell you how many freshman girls text me and think that I’m a freshman girl. It’s the weirdest thing that I do. Like Penny said, I’m the RUF campus minister at JMU, the greatest university in Virginia. If you disagree with me, we can talk about that later in the Narthex or whatever you call that area. But I’m really glad to be here. My role as a campus minister is to reach and equip students with the good news, to reach them with the good news of God’s grace and to equip them for a lifetime of loving and serving the local church. And one of my favorite ways to serve the local church is to be in places like this and to share God’s Word. And as we do that, I want to invite you to turn to the book of Ephesians. It’s page 976 and 977 in your Pew Bible, also on the screen. And I want to invite you to listen. This is the Word of the Living God, Ephesians 2:11-22: “Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (ESV) This is the word of the Lord. And as God’s word, we should go to him and ask him to be with us as we consider it. So pray with me. God, we come before you thankful that you are not a distant God, but you’re a God who is personal and so personal that you give us your word, that you’ve given us your word to direct us how we might glorify and enjoy you. And Lord, if we’re honest, we need you to meet us here. If we are to gain anything from the reading or the preaching of your word, we need you,

Download the bulletin below: 20261011_finalDownload Transcript 20261011Download Rev. John Pennylegion – October 11, 2026 Good morning, welcome to Christ the King. My name is Penny, and I’m the senior pastor here. And friends, it is good to be with you. If you are a guest or visitor, we’re glad that you would join us this morning, that we can gather together and to worship and to sing and to come to God’s word. And if we haven’t had the opportunity to meet, I would love to meet you. I’m usually in the back there after the service. I’d love to greet you because we are glad that you would join us this morning. And this morning, we’re continuing in our series in the book of Colossians. We’re nearing the end. We’re moving into chapter four this morning, and there are only four chapters. So we have this morning and then one more sermon in the book of Colossians. And then after Colossians, we’re going to spend a few weeks in the minor prophet Zephaniah. So probably no one had a quiet time this morning in the book of Zephaniah. But we’re going to spend a few weeks in that before we move into the season of Advent. So if you like to plan, if you like to look ahead, that’s what you can be expecting. But this morning, we’re in the beginning of Colossians 4. And one of the things as we’re moving into that I thought would be helpful is to just remind us of where we’ve been. In the very first chapter early on in the book of Colossians, we’re told that Jesus is the one who is preeminent over all things. That in all things, Jesus is the king. He is the ruler. He rules over our lives. He rules over this world. He rules over you and me. He is the preeminent one. Now, what’s amazing about that is that Jesus isn’t simply this preeminent one who is far off from us. But very quickly after hearing about his preeminence, we heard about how Jesus takes all that he has done, his righteous works, his work on the cross, his death and resurrection, he takes all that he has done and he applies it to his people, to you and to me. So you remember, we are united to Christ, right? So what is true of Jesus is true of us. I mean, that’s remarkable to think about. His death and resurrection, Paul says, is ours. So that he can say that we have died with Christ and risen with him. Now, coming out of that discussion about our union with Christ, Paul then spent pretty much an entire chapter telling us how we respond by putting off the old and putting on the new, of fleeing from vice and fleeing to virtue. That was chapter 3. And now as we come into chapter 4, we have this last encouragement, this final exhortation of dependence. So let’s read Colossians 4, beginning in verse 2. Paul writes, “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (ESV) Friends, this is the word of the Lord. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we thank you that as we come to your word, you meet with us, that you are at work in our midst. And so we ask, Father, that you would use your spirit to open our eyes and soften our hearts, and that you would give us understanding. I pray, Father, that the words that are spoken would be honoring to you, and that our minds as we think upon them, our hearts as we take them in, that our posture would be glorifying to you. Because, Father, everything we do, we want to honor you. We pray this in Christ’s name. Amen. So last night, as Cole and I were watching the baseball game, like I’m sure all of you were, a commercial came on, which, you know, commercials come on. And Cole did what everyone else in my family does every time a

Download the bulletin below: 20261004_finalDownload Transcript 20260104Download Transcript 20261004 Rev. John Pennylegion – October 4, 2026 Good morning. Welcome to Christ the King. My name is Penny, and I’m the senior pastor here, and it is good to be with you. If you are a guest or visitor, welcome. We’re glad that you’re here. And I would just reiterate that if you have opportunity to talk with Nate or any of his students after the service, you should take advantage of that. RUF is one of the best things that the PCA does, and they’re doing great work in Lynchburg and at other campuses around the commonwealth. And if you don’t have opportunity to talk with Nate or his students today, you can talk to Jason Little. He’s the area coordinator over RUF. You can talk to me. I’m the committee chairman for our presbytery. We really like RUF around here. So, we’d be happy to sing its praise to you. But this morning, we are returning to our series in the book of Colossians. So, we took a break last week from Colossians and spent some time in Psalm 139, but we’re returning to Colossians 3. So, if you have a Bible, you can turn to Colossians 3. We also project the passage on the screen, so you’ll be able to follow along there. And from a few weeks ago, if you’re with us, you’ll remember that we encountered a section of Colossians where Paul was calling us to flee from the vices of this world and to pursue the virtues of God’s kingdom. He was talking about us putting off sin and putting off vice and putting on godliness and beauty and truth. You remember Tobias used the illustration of spandex or lycra and how hard it is to take off, right? Like, that’s sin. It’s hard to remove. And we do this, right? We take it off and we put on virtue through God’s grace, through his strength, through his ability, through his work in us. But as we think about virtue and vice and as we’re coming out of that section, it’s easy to just leave those ideas in kind of the theoretical, in the general, right? Sometimes it can be hard to know how to apply God’s word and how it takes root in our lives and how it plays out in our lives. Well, this morning in our passage, Paul’s going to get a little specific. He’s going to get a little specific because he’s going to start talking about the household. And he’s going to talk about our relationships, husbands to wives and parents to children and masters to servants. And as I was thinking about this passage this week, the voice of this elderly man from my church in St. Louis was running through my head. Before my wife and I moved here to Roanoke, we were in St. Louis serving at a church there, and there was an elderly man. His name was Roger. Roger was a retired pastor who actually grew up in the Commonwealth of Virginia but made his way to St. Louis. And every once in a while after a sermon that maybe convicted him, maybe pricked his heart, you know, maybe was a little too close to home, he would come up to one of the pastors who was preaching and say, “Boy, you stopped preaching and you started meddling this morning.” And I couldn’t help but think that if Roger was reading this passage from Colossians, he might think, Boy, Paul, you’re starting to meddle because Paul’s going to talk about our home lives. He’s going to talk about our relationships, about husbands and wives, about children and parents, about masters and servants. And what we’re going to see is that God’s Word isn’t just sage advice. It isn’t an interesting idea. It’s not just suggestions. But God’s Word is supposed to influence every aspect of our lives, and it’s supposed to reorient us around what is true and what is good and what is beautiful, even in our homes. So let’s go ahead and read Colossians 3, beginning in verse 18. Paul writes, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fa